Blue Drop: Angel's Home
by kotoko minazuki
Summary: Continues after Blue Drop: Angel's Partner.  What adventures do we have taking a captured frigate back to Arume.
1. Chapter 1: A Homecoming and A Beginning

**Author's Note:**  
This story follows on the heels of **Blue Drop: Angel's Partner** which I wrote as a sequel to the anime series. It told of the events from Hagino's self-sacrifice in a last ditch defense of Kaihou Academy and Mari through a miraculous journey from _Blue's_ explosion to her sharing consciousnesses with Mari as the two live together in Mari's body. Mari and her friends have joined the resistance against the invading Arume where Mari and Ekaril's experience is called upon to help and they are able to take control of a captured Arume frigate under the name ``Commander Mari'il.''

Mari and Hagino/Ekaril were too interesting as characters to just leave there, and I was also curious about the Arume. So this story was born. I have decided to call Hagino by her Arume name, Ekaril, here to emphasize the Arume setting of this tale. I've also tried to make sure this matches not only the anime and my **Angel's Partner,** but also with Yoshitomi-sensei's manga, or at least doesn't violently contradict it. Hopefully I've been able to, though I've also had to invent quite a bit of Arume from whole cloth.

I hope you enjoy this story. Please let me know, your reviews are the fuel for my imagination.

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 1**

**A Homecoming and A Beginning**

* * *

Mari'il bid a tearful farewell to Micchi and Tsubael, her two best friends on Earth, and boarded the captured Arume frigate _Myrdal._ Taking her seat in the commander's chair, she ordered _Myrdal_ to take off and begin an evasive set of Leminov shifts through several different brane-worlds. These would hide their tracks and keep anyone from following their trail back to the resistance on Earth.

Once their trail was suitably obscured, _Myrdal_ stopped in an out-of-the-way brane-world to prepare for their arrival at Arume. Mari'il took a moment to admire the nebula and stars which the view-screen showed surrounding the ship, then headed back to her cabin to change from her earth clothes into an Arume uniform. After putting on the white sleeveless leotard, boots and gloves, she adjusted her cape in a view-screen configured as a mirror. Her face and body were still those of Wakatake Mari, but the uniform was more familiar to Commander Ekaril, who now shared her consciousness with Mari. Ekaril was also familiar with these earth clothes, for she too had worn that school uniform when she attended Kaihou Academy as Senkouji Hagino. She and Mari had come to know and love each other there.

[[ _You look good in that uniform,_ ]] Ekaril silently told Mari, [[ _and just like an Arume captain._ ]]

[[ _Oh, Ekaril,_ ]] responded Mari. [[ _You're just saying that. Besides you look way better in it. Anyway, it really should be you standing here, not me. I'll try to be worthy of the uniform and not disappoint you._ ]]

[[ _You will be; you won't. And you're right, I agree that wearing this should raise fewer questions than our outfit from earth._ ]]

They continued their ``talk,'' while Mari'il folded and put away Mari's old school uniform, reminiscing about the events that brought them here: how they met, became friends, then fell in love; how that time was cut short by Ekaril's sacrifice to save Mari, but how she was saved, and how they ended up with both their consciousnesses together Mari's head. Their deep love and trust of each other, together with a good deal of practice allow them to present a combined ``Mari'il'' to the outside world.

Mari wondered what it would be like on Arume, a world of only women. She'd gone to an all-girls school, but this would be a bit more extreme. Ekaril had told her much of Arume, but there was always a difference between being told—no matter how intimate the telling—and experiencing it first hand. The total lack of men had to have some impact, as it was the loss of their men and declining population that pushed the Arume to come to Earth. Even though that resulted in the invasion and occupation of earth, Mari couldn't fully condemn it. After all, it was what brought her and Ekaril together.

[[ _When we get to Arume, what name do you want to go by?_ ]] Ekaril asked. [[ _We can change from the cover-name of Mari'il if you'd like._ ]]

[[ _Anything,_ ]] answered Mari. [[ _Don't you want to go back to being Ekaril?_ ]]

[[ _But I don't want to deny that you're in here with me._ ]] Ekaril explained, emphasizing the fact their two consciousnesses shared Mari's body.

[[ _I don't mind. But if you really mean that, then we could stick with Mari'il._ ]] Mari laughed at suggesting the name Ekaril had quickly picked to interface with _Myrdal's_ systems. [[ _If you look at it one way, it's a combination of both our names._ ]] She grew more serious. [[ _Because I also don't want to deny you're in here with me._ ]]

[[ _Mari!_ ]]

[[ _But what will make life easiest when we return?_ ]] Mari turned practical.

[[ _I don't think it matters much,_ ]] Ekaril answered. [[ _We'll pose enough problems that the choice of a name won't really matter, I figure._ ]]

[[ _Then let's be Mari'il._ ]] Mari smiled at the decision. [[ _Especially because you picked it._ ]]

Ekaril agreed, both because it seemed practical, but most of all, because this made Mari happy.

.

Mari'il returned to the bridge and ordered the final series of Leminov shifts. These ended with them appearing on the ocean of Arume where the sun shown down from a clear, blue, sky.

[[ _Welcome home, Ekaril,_ ]] said Mari. [[ _Now all we need now is a flock of terns to come greet us._ ]]

Ekaril laughed happily in silent agreement.

After _Myrdal_ confirmed their location on Arume, Mari'il called naval headquarters. ``Frigate _Myrdal_ to Fleet Central. This is Frigate _Myrdal_ calling Fleet Central. We are returning from a long off-world deployment and request docking instructions and a meeting with Admiral Loriel.''

Fleet Central responded with a request to stand by while they contacted the responsible people. During these exchanges, Mari'il also added, ``Please tell Admiral Loriel that I have the answer to the question she asked over the bluefish dinner at Bayside Seafood.''

[[ _I wonder if they will let us see her?_ ]] mused Mari. [[ _Hopefully that special message from you gets through and lets her know who we are._ ]]

[[ _Yes,_ ]] agreed Ekaril, [[ _And I hope that Admiral Loriel still remembers me and our friendship back when I served under her years ago, before our expedition to your world. If she's taken to eating bluefish at Bayside Seafood with anyone else while I've been gone, that could prove a bit confusing._ ]]

.

Loriel leaned back from her desk and turned to look out her window over the harbor, busy with the coming and going of the fleet's ships and small-craft. Today was turning out to be very ...interesting. First, _Myrdal_ returned unexpectedly from the expeditionary force to Forime. Then an unknown ``Mari'il'' contacted Fleet Central as her captain. A search through the fleet database found no record of a Commander Mari'il in the expeditionary force, nor anywhere else for that matter. Finally, this Mari'il asked to speak to her personally, by name. That was not so surprising, given her position as Grand Admiral, but what was surprising were the specific words used—referring to a private conversation she had with Ekaril years ago. Those words had to be a message from Ekaril meant to get her attention and establish the bona-fides of this unknown Mari'il.

Loriel rubbed her temples, as if that gesture would somehow push these mysteries into some clear order. It didn't, so she leaned forward, deciding: she would meet with this Mari'il and hear what she had to say. That seemed the only hope of answering the questions _Myrdal_ brought back from the distant planet known as Earth.

.

A larger warship shifted in beside _Myrdal_ and identified itself as the System Defense Cruiser _Fortol._ Her captain came to escort _Myrdal_ in to port. Mari'il's appearance and message were sufficiently out of the ordinary that Fleet Central took this extra precaution instead of simply giving them navigation vectors to a berth there.

_Myrdal_ followed _Fortol's_ watchful lead to the main fleet port and docked at the indicated slip. Mari'il emerged from the ship and walked down the gangway to the pier and party who were there to meet her. Thankfully, naval traditions hearkened back to the days before Arume had any control of gravity, so for this formal moment everyone, including Mari'il, walked on solid ground as opposed to using their ability to float above it.

ooo OOO ooo

A ground skimmer took Mari'il and her escort to Admiralty House where, after waiting in an ante-room for quite a while, she was ushered into Loriel's office. Loriel stood up from behind her large desk to greet Mari'il. She wore a similar white uniform to Mari'il, though her cape was larger and her insignia were those of a Grand Admiral. Her face and shoulders showed a strength of both body and character which left Mari no doubt that she had earned her rank. Thankfully, her eyes still showed the same fairness and care that Ekaril remembered from her friend long ago. Her desktop was kept immaculately clean, save for a small decorative piece of sculpture. The window behind her overlooked the port where _Myrdal_ docked.

``Please have a seat, Commander Mari'il,'' said Loriel, gesturing to the chairs across from her desk. ``I assume you realize something of the conundrum you pose here.'' Mari'il nodded. ``You show up in a ship from the expedition to Forime, which we weren't expecting back for a while, and moreover you are not the commander we have on record for her. In fact, you don't even appear in our personnel database at all. Piracy might be an explanation, but _Myrdal's_ computer indicates an orderly assumption of command authenticated with Ekaril's full unique code sequence, and there is also no evidence of tampering, so you're either very good or there's more going on here than appears. Then there is your reference to Bayside Seafood, which I assume you included that to catch my attention.'' Loriel paused and looked directly at Mari'il. ``Now that you have my attention, can you help elucidate this conundrum?'' Sitting back in her chair, Loriel prepared to listen to what should be an interesting story.

[[ _Could you take care of this explanation?_ ]] Mari silently asked Ekaril.

[[ _Of course, dear,_ ]] she answered, then began using Mari's voice. ``Grand Admiral Loriel, I'm sorry that I was cryptic, but hopefully you will understand by the end of this explanation. First, thank you for seeing us and remembering our conversation over that dinner of grilled bluefish and rice.'' Loriel raised and eyebrow at Mari'il's use of ``us'' but said nothing. Mari'il gathered her courage about her and continued, ``Things happened far differently on Forime than we planned for. To answer your first question, it seems that touch telepathy does work—in fact, even with some specific Forime. For I am, in part, your old friend Ekaril. I wish I could have come to see you in the body you remember, but that perished in the fighting on Forime. This body is actually that of Mari, Wakatake Mari, a truly exceptional Forime. It's a long story, but both of us have ended up living in her head.'' Ekaril asked Mari, [[ _could you introduce yourself, please?_ ]]

Mari bowed in greeting, saying, ``I'm pleased to meet you Grand Admiral Loriel.'' Loriel's eyes widened fractionally at the change in tone and timbre of Mari'il's voice. Mari continued, ``I am also Wakatake Mari. Ekaril and I met when I was a student at the school she attended under cover while she was investigating our society. Please believe Commander Ekaril. She's telling the truth, even though it's hard to believe—at times I have trouble believing it myself. She can explain better than I can, so if you wouldn't mind, Ekaril.''

Ekaril continued the report from here, using Mari's voice. She and Mari gave Loriel full credit for how little surprise she showed at these changes. She also gave Loriel three data chips: one holding _Blue's_ log, which Tsubael had saved in her escape capsule; one with her subsequent entries and extra data she'd acquired; and one holding _Myrdal's_ log. She then told the significant points of their time on Forime, starting with _Blue's_ arrival on Earth and the incident where the Emil Force drive went unstable then exploded, killing their landing party along with most of the islanders they were investigating. She continued telling of their time at Kaihou Academy, pointing out that Mari was the only surviving islander. This ended with the Arume invasion and Shivariel's attack on Mari and _Blue,_ and their mutual destruction.

During this report, she was able to refer to many more shared experiences. These, along some of Ekaril's mannerisms helped convince Loriel that this really is Ekaril, or at least her consciousness, sitting in front of her.

The revelation that Shivariel engineered the explosion on _Blue,_ and her subsequent targeting of both Mari and _Blue,_ surprised Loriel. ``Disabling one of the ships under her command by sabotaging its engines and then attacking it certainly wasn't in Shivariel's original mission plan, nor is it part of any standing orders, as you well know. And if her sabotaging the Emil-Force drive killed the landing party...'' Letting that train of thought trail off, she asked. ``Are you sure ...no, you have to be sure or you wouldn't have said this. Do you have any more evidence of this or ideas why Master Commander Shivariel did this? You do realize how serious a charge your making?''

``Everything we have is on these data chips,'' replied Mari'il. ``Hopefully the information Azanael discovered while she was aboard _Novaal_ will help as well.'' A shadow of pain clouded her face. ``I wish there was more, but so much was destroyed with _Blue_ and _Novaal,_ not to mention their crews. And yes, I do realize how serious this is.''

``I'll need to review these logs fully, and we'll need to talk more after that.''

``Of course.''

``But now,'' said Loriel, continuing in a lighter tone of voice. ``Let's talk of what I find even more curious. How can you be Ekaril as well as this Forime, Mari. You obviously don't have Ekaril's body, in fact sensors don't register you as fully Arume, yet you seem to know things that only Ekaril would, and often say things just the way she did.''

``That's something that we're not fully sure of ourselves,'' answered Mari'il. ``We've talked between ourselves and guess that it started with to the touch telepathy we had, and has to be somehow related to that.'' She smiled. ``Of course, we have no idea how we were able to do that.''

Mari'il tried to explain their touch telepathy as well as she could, and continued with the whole story ending with Ekaril sharing her head. Their conversation trailed off from this to more mundane topics that two friends would share after not having seen each other for a long time.

ooo OOO ooo

When the interview was over, one of Loriel's aides took Mari'il from her office to the fleet hospital. They had decided this was the most convenient spot for now, since Mari'il didn't currently have quarters and her lack of nanomachines did mimic certain Arume illnesses. It would also be more convenient for some of the tests to find what was special about her.

The aide had arranged for Mari'il's bags to be brought here from _Myrdal,_ and after showing Mari'il to her new room, she left her and her bags there to settle in. Mari'il thanked her for her help, then turned to look over her room.

The room closely resembled the standard crew cabin aboard Arume ships. The half one entered first held a desk with typing pads and display and a chair to sit at while working. The other half was occupied by a conventional circular Arume bed. Mari'il figured that the screens surrounding the bed here were more commonly used for entertainment and patient monitoring rather than displaying current ship status, but anyone in the Fleet would certainly feel at home here, having spent countless nights in a similar cabin aboard ship.

Mari'il set her bags on the desk and began to unpack the few things she'd brought with her. As she put them away in the lockers in the room, Ekaril asked, [[ _Will you be able to relax and feel comfortable in this room?_ ]]

[[ _I think so. After all, I didn't have any trouble sleeping aboard __Myrdal_ in a cabin like this. ]] She laughed. [[ _I do like this style of bed: it lets me sprawl out all over while sleeping._ ]]

Ekaril laughed and agreed that was true. She was also happy that Mari was feeling comfortable adapting to Arume ways. She remembered how it had taken her a bit to get used to the way things were done on Earth.

While Mari'il was putting away her clothes, she mused that it turned out to be rather convenient that _Myrdal's_ captain was pretty much her size, and that she had also kept a small wardrobe of civilian clothes aboard. This way she'd have something other than just a commander's uniform to wear.

Last of all, she unpacked the keepsakes she brought with her, and carefully put them away in a locker by themselves. She was thankful that she could still keep those few reminders of Earth.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il changed back into her Arume uniform and waited for Loriel's aide to come pick her up. Right on time, the aide arrived and brought her to Loriel's office.

``Thank you for coming to talk over these details, Commander Mari'il,'' said Loriel as she rose to greet Mari'il.

``You're welcome,'' said Mari'il as they sat down facing each other across Loriel's Desk. Mari'il thought to herself that she didn't have much choice in this, but at least Loriel was being courteous about it.

``I've had a chance to look more at _Blue's_ and _Myrdal's_ logs,'' began Loriel. ``I must say, you had quite the adventure there on Forime. And as incredible as what you told me earlier sounded, the logs confirm it. Like you, I wish we had the data—and especially the people—that we lost with _Blue_ and _Novaal._ Allow me to extend the Fleet's condolences, as well as my own, to you for the loss of your crew.'' Saying this, she gave Mari'il a small bow.

``Thank you, Grand Admiral Loriel,'' replied Mari'il with a bow of her own. ``I also wish it could have happened otherwise, but that is now just a past regret.''

``I do have a couple questions,'' continued Loriel, ``but I figure I should start by telling you a few things first.'' Mari'il raised an eyebrow in curiosity. ``First, your assuming command of _Myrdal_ and bringing her back here has been fully authorized. The covert mission that Commander Kalgol was on when she was killed was not consistent with the objectives of the overall mission to Forime. For that matter, neither were many other of her orders. So your assuming command and bringing _Myrdal_ back are what we would have wanted.'' Mari'il's eyes widened in surprise. ``I really need to look deeper into the orders and command structure of the Forime mission. They seem to have deviated considerably from what we intended at the start of this. On the other hand, they were given a lot of autonomy, so we can't call those deviations a direct violation of their orders. Also, Master Commander Shivariel's methods are similarly questionable. I've already spoken some of her actions toward _Blue_, but her methods of targeting you, Mari the Forime, were similarly questionable. She shouldn't have sent a probe after you with those mission parameters. Regardless of how interested she was in Mari's resistance to the Emil-Force wave from _Blue's_ drive, allowing deadly force was not warranted.''

``Thank you for saying that, Grand Admiral. I also wonder if that was why Master Commander Shivariel sent the probe to capture Mari-san. I think that resistance may be why she survived when nobody else did. That was the only significant data I gave her on Mari.''

``I also find it hard to condemn your destroying the probe to prevent it from performing a potentially destructive test on Mari,'' continued Loriel. ``While I don't encourage thwarting a superior officer's plans like that or destroying Fleet equipment, you did the only thing you could to save this special Forime.''

ooo OOO ooo

Back in her room Mari'il sat down on her bed and pondered her most recent interview with Loriel. Starting with the battle with _Kelbil,_ Loriel had gone over all of _Blue's_ battles with the other ships in Shivariel's squadron. She wanted to confirm that _Blue_ was attacked first in all of these cases. The only questionable case was the final battle where Tsubael was fighting to protect Kaihou Academy during the invasion. Even that was arguably self-defense, and the history of previous attacks made that argument stronger. On the down side, these were also the only cases where _Blue_ actually destroyed ships instead of merely disabling them.

Thankfully, _Blue's_ logs showed that these attacks on _Blue_ were unprovoked by anything _Blue_ did. The only possible motivation was Ekaril's destruction of the probe sent after Mari. Loriel found it interesting—and not completely unreasonable—that Ekaril didn't report that she herself destroyed a ``malfunctioning'' probe. Shivariel never gave any indication that Ekaril was under suspicion or was acting inappropriately, nor did Loriel, but Ekaril knew that Loriel long ago learned to school her face to show only what she wished.

The extra report that Azanael gave about Shivariel's being responsible for _Blue's_ Emil-Force drive explosion was especially interesting. Mari'il was thankful that Azanael was able to give her full copies of the data she found about Shivariel's sabotage of _Blue's_ drive before they left Earth. This certainly was better than trying to remember it all. While these copies did not have the full amount of integrity verification that a ship's log would, they were as good as they could get—_Novaal's_ log, along with the rest of the evidence, had been destroyed along with the ship, and no escape capsules had survived. The logs from Azanael's fighter also confirmed that Shivariel was going to use genocide mode against the the Forime. Only _Blue's_ appearance and destruction of _Novaal_ stopped her. This corroborated Ekaril's report as the copy of _Blue's_ log from Tsubael ended when she was ejected.

Shivariel's subsequent attacks on Blue seemed to follow from this, as it seemed she kept trying to destroy that evidence of her original sabotage. [[ _Grand Admiral Loriel also seemed suspicious about Master Commander's continuing attacks on you and_ Blue, ]] commented Ekaril.

[[ _Yes,_ ]] agreed Mari. [[ _I really wish I knew why Shivariel was coming after us. I also wish I could have gotten to know_ Blue_ better. She seemed to be a wonderful partner and ship. I'm sorry I only met her that one time you brought me aboard._ ]]

Ekaril agreed that, yes, _Blue_ was both, and that she also wished she knew more of Shivariel's motives.

.

They both wondered about Loriel's abrupt departure after the interviews for a Fleet Exercise. Such exercises were common enough, Ekaril explained, and they were always planned well in advance, so Loriel wouldn't have been able to postpone things just to talk longer with her about the events on Forime. On the other hand, this would also be a perfect excuse to stop the cordial interactions they were having if Loriel had decided to abandon her old friendship or even worse. Ekaril knew that Loriel was good at hiding her intentions when she wished, so she couldn't fully rule this possibility out.

Though Ekaril tried, she wasn't able to fully hide her worry from Mari. Ekaril worried that she might be prosecuted for her actions on Earth, since those actions could easily be interpreted as mutinous. And if Loriel had decided that they looked that way, then it would be her duty to turn the questioning of Ekaril over to the judicial branch, and they were not known for compassion.


	2. Chapter 2: Testing

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 2**

**Testing**

* * *

The next day, Mari'il's door slid open and two new Arume walked in. The short haircut and firm lines of her shoulders beneath her white lab-coat served to strengthen the severe expression on the face of the first one. The second carried a helmet which the first took and slammed onto Mari'il's head.

She looked Mari'il in the eye. ``So you say you are Commander Ekaril?'' were her first words.

``Yes,'' answered a confused Mari'il, ``In part. I'm also—'' But she was cut off before she can say more.

``Good. So you have all of her memories?''

Mari'il nodded in response, not wishing to be cut off again.

``I wish we had a recording of her brain waves before she left,'' the Arume commented to her assistant. ``It would be good to be able to compare them.'' Turning back to Mari'il, she asked, ``And who is this Forime you also claim to be?''

``Wakatake Mari,'' answered Mari'il.

The Arume continued asking a few more curt questions of a confused Mari'il. She also made several disparaging comments about Forime in general and finished by poking Mari'il painfully in the ribs. She then got up and headed out the door, telling her assistant, ``Bring the neuro-sensor helmet with you. I think we have the data we need.''

``Yes, Doctor Zephrael,'' replied her assistant, who removed the helmet from Mari'il more gently than Zephrael had put it on her. She then followed her out the door.

[[ _It seems she doesn't like us,_ ]] Mari silently commented to Ekaril.

[[ _No_ ]] agreed Ekaril, [[ _It certainly seems like she doesn't._ ]]

.

A couple days later, Zephrael, accompanied by a pair of assistants this time, came into Mari'il's room once more. Turning to one of them, she said, ``We need to get these samples for the genetic testing.'' She then turned back to Mari'il and imperiously held out her hand. ``Here,'' she ordered, demanding Mari'il stretch out her arm.

When Mari'il did not act fast enough, one of the assistants grabbed her arm and held it out, steady. Zephrael then took a device and used it to draw a sample of Mari'il's blood. Or at least that's what Mari'il took it to be, as it hurt similarly and when Zephrael removed the device, several drops of blood oozed out of the puncture it left.

While the assistant applies a styptic to this, Zephrael commented, ``look, it's staying red. She bleeds like an animal.''

[[ _I'm sorry,_ ]] Ekaril told Mari, [[ _I never expected that you would be subjected to treatment like this by my fellow Arume. I'm so sorry._ ]]

ooo OOO ooo

That evening Mari'il sat down at the terminal in her room. [[ _I wonder if we can find out anything about Zephrael,_ ]] mused Ekaril.

[[ _I'm certainly curious,_ ]] replied Mari.

[[ _Then let's see what we can find. If you'd let me?_ ]]

Mari gives over her hands and eyes to Ekaril who begins entering queries into the computer. After a bit of searching and reading, she comments, [[ _Oh ho! Well, isn't that interesting._ ]]

[[ _What is this you found?_ ]]

[[ _Look. It says Zephrael's teacher back in school was Sariel. And they've published several articles together since then, which shows they've continued cooperating. The curious point of this is that Sariel was known for her isolationist views, or at least she was back when I was in school. She said that we shouldn't be wasting our effort exploring other brane-worlds: they had nothing to teach us. Rather, we should be spending our effort trying to improve the Arume race._ ]]

[[ _She sounds like she wouldn't like either of us then, and she also sounds a bit arrogant._ ]]

[[ _Arrogant is an understatement. And if Zephrael shares her attitude, then we'll never get a fair treatment from her either. I only hope she isn't monitoring this terminal closely to see exactly what we were looking up. I think I looked up enough other stuff to cover our tracks._ ]]

[[ _I hope so too,_ ]] replied Mari, [[ _and I also think you're right._ ]]

[[ _Yes. I also think her arrogance may help us there._ ]]

.

As she got ready for bed that night, Mari'il continued to worry about Zephrael and her situation on Arume. It was obvious, starting with their first encounter, that Zephrael didn't like Mari'il, or more precisely that she put no value on Mari and looked down on Ekaril for associating with such a low-level life form, much less consenting to share a body with her.

Mari'il drifted off to sleep, her mind still churning over these worries. So it was not surprising that they showed up in her dreams.

.

Zephrael appeared in the dream, grabbed one of Mari'il's arms and with a swift, painful jerk, pulled Ekaril out of Mari'il's body. The stunned, slightly transparent Ekaril could only float there, helpless as Zephrael had her two assistants took Mari and locked her up in a cage next to the other experimental animals.

``Mari!'' screamed Ekaril as Zephrael dragged her off. ``No! Let me stay with you.'' At this, she was able to move again and resist the pull, which she did.

``Enough,'' said Zephrael. ``I leave you with the traitors,'' at which two of Shivariel's guards appeared on either side of her an pushed her into a jail cell across from Mari.

Shivariel appeared in the corridor between them. ``You will pay,'' she laughed coldly. ``You will pay for attacking me and thwarting my plans to rule Forime. And you,'' she turned to Mari. ``You will show us why you could resist my power and how you could seduce a formerly loyal officer to treason.''

``But I...'' said Mari.

``Yes,'' said Loriel, appearing beside Shivariel. ``How could you do that?''

Zephrael appeared again with her two assistants, jerked Mari from her cage, and pinned her down on an operating table. ``Now we will find out,'' she declared as an instrument cluster descended towards Mari's head and began extending tendrils toward her.

``No!'' Mari and Ekaril cried out at the same time. Ekaril suddenly appeared in her combat suit and destroyed the instrument cluster with her gun, just as she had the probe that attacked Mari back on Earth.

She freed Mari from her restraints and the two embraced. Then they turned to the others and together recited, ``No matter what blade you possess, it is impossible to cut the single flower that blooms in the wilderness that has become my heart.'' And with that, the two disappeared into a blaze of white energy.

The light dimmed and Mari and Ekaril find that they were now alone, still holding hands. They tightened their hold on each other, seeking reassurance.

[[ _Are you all right?_ ]]

[[ _I think so. And you?_ ]]

They both agreed that they seemed safe for the moment, and the glow faded further to show them standing together on a beach. After holding each other a bit longer they let go of their tight embrace but continued to hold hands as they turned to walk down the beach.

``Thank you for being here and saving me again, my dear.''

``There's nothing that can tear us apart,'' said Ekaril. ``Not Zephrael, nor Shivariel, nor anyone else.''

``And since I have you here with me, I can face anything,'' concluded Mari, tightening her grip on Ekaril's hand. The two stopped and moved to embrace each other with another tight hug and kiss, and as they did, the two flowed back together into their shared body.

``Yes,'' they said together as Mari'il. ``As long as we're together, we can face anything.'' And with that Mari'il dropped back into a deep contented sleep.

.

The next morning, Mari'il awakened. She remembered the dream but was less worried now than the night before. Even if Loriel turned against her, Mari and Ekaril knew they still had each other, even if they had no other friends here, though such a loss of an old friend would hurt. Of course, the possibility of a trial and punishment for Ekaril's actions on Forime was not appealing, but Mari and Ekaril could each accept that, though they didn't share their reasons with each other: Ekaril because she felt it may well be deserved, and Mari because it was another way to support and stay with Ekaril.

All they could do now was wait. And even such a trial was not definite. Loriel had left for Fleet maneuvers immediately after interviewing Mari'il, and they didn't know how she would proceed with things upon her return.

This train of thought led Mari'il to reminisce about shipboard life. [[ _Even though I was only aboard Blue once,_ ]] remarked Mari, [[ _I still miss her, ...and I'll bet you miss her even more._ ]]

Ekaril sighed, or gave the mental equivalent. [[ _Yes, I do too. I feel a bit adrift here without a ship. Blue was the best ship I've known. Myrdal was nice, but she didn't have a real personality like_ Blue_, though we only knew her for a short time._ ]]

[[ _True. We only knew her for a little, but I miss her too. She did all we asked and brought us here together._ ]]

[[ _True. Myrdal was a good and faithful ship, though ordinary. I think the real difference was that Blue was an actual ``living ship'' with the ``P-Brain'' system giving her something close to sentience. Tsubael and I both thought that really worked well. I hope they continue to build more like her._ ]] Ekaril paused, then mused, [[ _I wonder if we'll ever serve aboard ship again, I guess a lot of that depends on what they decide about my actions on Forime._ ]]

[[ _Yeah. We can only wait,_ ]] replied Mari. [[ _Though you know I'm not so good at that ...but I'm better now that you've taught me._ ]]

Ekaril laughed in agreement and hugged her chest in thanks. This had become the way they figured out to give each other a hug. It was as close as they could manage in this shared body.

[[ _I hope we can get you back aboard ship someday, or at least find something you enjoy as much,_ ]] concluded Mari.

[[ _Thank you. I'm sure that we can find something enjoyable, since we will be together._ ]]

Now it was Mari's turn to return the hug.


	3. Chapter 3: A Friend

**Author's Note:**  
Let me say thank you to all of you who've reviewed this. I really appreciate your words and they help keep me going. You also help me see what my writing look like through other's eyes, which is vital to any author. Please keep them coming, both short and long, and questions are fine too.

**bythewayr** asked whether my comment about ``the loss of their [Arume] men'' in chapter 1 was my invention or canon, so I figure that others of you may also wonder this. Thanks for asking. While my comment on having to make things up might hint that I did, the loss of Arume men actually has some backing. They are definitely an all-female race now, but they started off with both sexes. This was stated in the ``Chronicle'' on the BeStack official Japanese **Blue Drop** site. The following events are listed happening some indeterminate time before the anime:

* Abnormal decrease of male birthrate on the aliens' home planet.

* Union/symbiosis with nanomachines

* They become an exclusively female race

There's also mention of this in _Blue Drop: Tenshi no Bokura_ manga, volume 2, chapter 11: Razael talks of male Arume in the distant past. I'll refrain from saying more about this here to avoid spoilers, though I'm sure there will be some manga (and of course anime) spoilers in the story itself as it develops.

.

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 3**

**A Friend**

* * *

A polite knock on Mari'il's door preceded its sliding open. She looked up, surprised, as few of her recent visitors bothered with such niceties. Standing in the door was a lady Mari'il had never seen before. Her dark flowing hair echoed the gentle smile on her face. Instead of a Fleet uniform or lab coat, she wore a tan skirt and a cream, turtle-neck, sweater whose soft style seemed to match the expression on her face. ``May I come in?'' she asked.

Mari'il stammered agreement and gestured to one of the chairs in the room. As the newcomer entered and sat down as invited, Mari'il thought that she was one of the rare Arume with dark hair, like Ekaril. Normally their nanomachines broke down the natural coloring, effectively bleaching their hair.

``Pardon my interruption. Please allow me to introduce myself,'' she began. ``My name is Ariel, and I'm on the staff here at Fleet Medical. I just recently found out about you and would like to learn what I can from you.''

A look of panic and rejection crossed Mari'il's face as she remembered the tests that Zephrael had already put her through.

``I'm sorry,'' said Ariel, noticing this pain, ``I didn't mean to imply doing anything _to_ you that you wouldn't wish done, or to bring up bad memories.''

Mari'il looked at her quizzically, then Mari silently asked Ekaril, [[ _Is she someone you knew before?_ ]]

[[ _No, this is my first time seeing her too. What do you think of her?_ ]]

[[ _I don't know, but I'm getting a good feeling about her somehow._ ]]

``What I would like to do,'' continued Ariel, ``with your permission of course, is to spend some time together, just talking, so we can learn from you and your people. Unlike some here,'' A flash of unpleasant memory crossed her face. ``I don't feel that Forime have nothing to teach us just because they lack technical advancement.'' She smiled. ``Actually, I think you probably know much we've lost and have discovered other things we never have. I want to respect your privacy, but if there's anything you're willing to share, I would appreciate learning. Also, if there's anything I can tell do to help make your life here easier, I would like to.''

Mari'il nodded in agreement.

``Anyway, I don't want to take too much of your time now, since I stopped by unannounced. If you don't mind I'd like to come back later and talk with you some more. Would tomorrow afternoon be all right with you?''

``Sure,'' Mari'il agreed quietly, saddened that she probably lacked the power to say no as she had so little control over her life now. Then she dared. ``Um, would you mind coming and joining me for dinner instead? I... I... eating by myself gets lonely.''

``Of course,'' replied Ariel with a kind smile. ``I would love to join you. If it's all right with you, we could go out to dinner. I can come by and pick you up. Is there anything special you'd like?''

``Thank you,'' replied a surprised Mari'il. It had been too long since someone had shown her simple politeness this way, and she'd rarely been out of her room since returning to Arume. ``So far stuff has just been brought to me here. Anywhere will be fine.''

``You're welcome,'' said Ariel. ``I'll come by and pick you up after work if that's all right with you. Also, would you mind if I looked at the public parts of the files on you? I wanted to ask you, as I really don't want you to feel I'm prying into your private affairs.''

[[ _How do you think we should answer,_ ]] Mari asked silently.

Ekaril thought there was nothing to be gained by saying no.

``Sure. Go ahead,'' replied Mari'il. ``And thank you for asking.''

Ariel rose to leave, telling Mari'il. ``I'll see you this evening, then. Hopefully we can find somewhere you'll enjoy eating.'' She paused in the door and turned back to Mari'il with a smile. ``And thank you for talking to me.''

.

The door closed behind Ariel, and Mari'il just sat staring at it for a while. [[ _Mari dear,_ ]] Ekaril asked silently, [[ _do you think that she's just being polite to get us to drop our guard?_ ]]

[[ _It doesn't seem that way to me. But of course I also can't tell for sure. Zephrael and her assistants just treat us like an object and never tried this kind of subterfuge to get anything from us—though I do wonder were some of our things might have disappeared to. Ariel's actually treating us like a person here, even an equal. I hope she's sincere._ ]]

[[ _That would be nice. So, together with you, I will hope._ ]]

Mari smiled inwardly. [[ _Then there's another reason I want to think good of her, but I didn't want to bring it up before._ ]]

[[ _Oh? What's that?_ ]] asked Ekaril

[[ _Her hairstyle reminds me of yours. And I would never want anything bad associated with that. I really hope she's nice._ ]]

Mari'il laughed out loud for the first time in a while, as the two enjoyed this simple observation and memory.

ooo OOO ooo

That evening brought another polite knock on Mari'il's door, and once again it opened to reveal Ariel standing there. ``Come on in,'' invited Mari'il.

They headed out to take Ariel's skimmer to a restaurant. ``You don't need to be so formal and always walk,'' Ariel commented.

``I'm sorry. I have to,'' answered Mari'il, chagrined. ``I can't float like Arume can.''

``No. I'm the one who should be sorry,'' replied a contrite Ariel. ``I didn't mean to criticize, I was trying to make you feel comfortable and forgot for a moment that you have a Forime body. ...I guess saying `you're a Forime' isn't quite right either.''

``Don't worry. You're being kind to me, not critical.''

``I also need to apologize for only talking to `Mari' earlier,'' continued Ariel. ``Until I'd read your files, I had no idea that there are actually two of you to talk to. I didn't mean to exclude you, Ekaril. I'm sure you learned a lot on Forime and I'd appreciate your insight as well as Mari's.''

``That's all right. You didn't know then and were still polite. Thank you for talking to both of us now.''

The two got into Ariel's skimmer and she had it take them to Sabrael's, a small restaurant that she knew in the middle of town. ``Will this be all right with you?'' asked Ariel as they headed out. ``Since you said you didn't have any preference for dinner, I figured we could go here. I've always enjoyed it and hoped you might also.''

Mari'il agreed it sounded interesting, so they got out and Ariel sent her skimmer off to park itself and await her summons to come take them back. They headed inside where Sabrael greeted Ariel as a long-familiar customer and friend. Ariel introduced her to her new friend, Mari'il. Sabrael happily greeted Mari'il, welcoming her to the restaurant, and chatted pleasantly with them as she showed them to a table for two in the back of the restaurant. It was out of the way and had a nice view of the city out the window.

``This seems a perfect table for chatting like this,'' commented Mari'il. ``Did you call ahead and ask for it?''

``No. Sabrael just seems to be able to tell things like that without saying. I don't know how she does it, but I'm not going to argue.''

Mari'il laughed, agreeing with her.

.

Mari'il and Ariel both enjoyed the dinner of grilled fish and vegetables. The sauce was familiar to Ekaril, but not Mari, though they both enjoyed it. While they ate, Ariel asked Mari'il if there was anything she'd like to know.

``Well, how about telling me about yourself?'' was her reply.

``Where should I start? Well, my primary training was in genetics, but since then I've been studying our dropping population. I've come to believe that there's more to it than just bio-genetics.''

``Do you mean that the mission to Forime, and all that effort, was in vain?'' asked Mari'il.

``No. I don't think that. Though I do think that the benefits may not come from the direction some folks were expecting.''

Mari'il cocked her eyebrow quizzically at Ariel.

``I think that Forime have much more to offer us than just a field of genetic diversity to harvest. I hope we can learn from their—or should I say your—culture and science as well.''

``You can say it either way.'' Mari'il laughed as she became more at ease with Ariel. ``It does get complicated. In some way's we're still working out how to be a mix of Mari, Ekaril and Mari'il. Don't worry about how to talk to us, we're all here.'' She smiled. ``And I know you're never trying to exclude any of us.''

``I think I can see why you'd be interested in me then,'' Mari'il continued. ``On the other hand, I'm not sure how much we can help. Mari doesn't remember anything that happened when she was young. In fact, all of her memories are after Ekaril's arrival on earth. But if there's anything either of us know that can help you—and all Arume—we'd be glad to.''

``Thank you,'' said Ariel. ``I really appreciate that: both the reassurance and your offer of help, even if limited. Still, I want to make sure I'm paying attention to all of you. Anyway, you were asking about me...'' And she continued from there, the conversation ranging over various topics, from more about Ariel, to the happenings on Arume since Ekaril left, to Mari'il and her past. True to her word, Ariel was more interested in Mari'il as a person than any ``scientific curiosities.'' She also seemed quite comfortable talking with Mari and Ekaril as individuals and as equals, as well as to the combined front of Mari'il they presented.

Ariel and Mari'il finished their dinner and sat back to enjoy sipping the last of their drinks. ``Thank you,'' said Mari'il. ``It's been long enough we'd almost forgotten what it's like to share a meal like this.'' She looked up at Ariel, past her soft smile and into her deep blue eyes, framed by her long flowing locks of raven hair. And as she looked, she saw something of the kindness, the gentleness, the caring which were Ariel, so she finished, ``...to enjoy a meal like this with a friend.''

``Thank you, Mari'il,'' said Ariel, her smile now filling her whole face. ``I'm glad you enjoyed it. I certainly did.'' She drained the last of her drink. ``I hope you'd like to do this again. ...I would.''

``Yes, Ariel,'' she answered. ``I... We would also like that.'' Mari and Ekaril found themselves a little surprised at their answer, but in fullest agreement on this sentiment.

ooo OOO ooo

A few days later, Ariel came to Mari'il's room once more. After Mari'il invited her in, and she sat down opposite Mari'il in the chair offered her, Ariel began, ``I've been looking into things for you and wanted to tell you what I found so far. There are actually at least two types of diseases that mimic your lack of nanomachines. The two classes amount to either a deficiency of nanomachines or a problem controlling and communicating with them. There are several causes, some treatable and some not. Thankfully these diseases are almost never contagious, so people don't need to worry about being infected by you when we go out. Of course, your reason for these symptoms is because you weren't born with the nanomachines, so of course you can't be infectious. If you're interested, I can send you the articles on them.''

Mari'il nodded that she was and hoped she would be able to understand at least the basics of the articles.

``It also seems these nanomachines are more central to being Arume than I first thought. In addition to enabling us to reproduce without males and giving us enough personal gravity control to float off the ground, it seems that they do a lot more for us. For example, we wouldn't live nearly as long without them.''

``Ah,'' said Mari'il, ``So that's the reason Forime seemed to have such short lives. And thank you for the articles, I only know the basics about nanomachines that we all learned in school.'' She paused and laughed. ``Well, except for Mari, as they somehow didn't teach that on Earth.''

Ariel joined in her laughter. ``Thankfully there's someone here willing to teach her.'' She then continued telling more details of her research on these diseases and the nanomachines.

.

In addition to just looking at nanomachine-related diseases, Ariel had looked into ``natural nanomachines.'' It turned out that Mari'il had a wider variety of symbiotic bacteria in her body than the average Arume. Ariel supposed that this likely applied to other Forime as well, as Arume nanomachines had taken over the functions of some of these microbes. They continued discussing how these microbes compared with the nanomachines, soon reaching the limits of both Ariel's and Mari'il's current knowledge of the field.

Ariel wanted to continue looking into these differences, as it seemed that even the remaining microbes were somewhat different. Ariel wondered if this difference in symbiotic microbes between Arume and Forime might be another factor in the declining Arume population. Perhaps something in the microbes they'd lost had affected the viability of children, or maybe their fertility. Mari'il also thought this sounded like a fruitful field of inquiry and wanted to help, though she wasn't sure what she could contribute beyond her example as a functioning Forime body.

[[ _Maybe this can also help yo... our people,_ ]] commented Mari.

[[ _Oh Mari!_ ]] Ekaril was as touched by Mari's identifying with Arume as by her desire to help them.

Ariel departed with a polite farewell and a promise to return with the results of her further investigations, leaving Mari'il to ponder what she'd been told and what she might do to help.


	4. Chapter 4: Memories

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 4**

**Memories**

* * *

The next time Ariel came to visit she brought a folder with her. ``Mari'il, I found this that we need to return to you.''

``Oh?'' queried Mari'il, her curiosity aroused. A faint light of hope entered her eyes.

``I found these when I was looking through the data that Zephrael gathered from you. It seems she had them taken from your room while you were out, looked them over, then just dumped them in a file instead of even thinking to return them to you. Let me return them to you now, with our sincere apologies.'' She handed the folder to Mari'il with a formal bow.

Mari'il took the folder, and opened it to look inside, hesitant with fear that her hope might be dashed. When she did see what was inside, her eyes filled with tears and she clasped the folder to her chest. ``Ariel. Thank you... Thank you!'' She stopped as tears of joy and relief overflowed, running down her cheeks. She blinked to clear her eyes and looked back up at Ariel, her eyes still full. ``Thank you, you don't know how much this means to me. Do you know what these are?''

``No, not beyond them being some papers you brought with you from Forime, ...I should say Earth, and that they seem terribly valuable to you.'' Ariel smiled back, very touched by the joy she was able to bring Mari'il. ``If you'd like to tell me, I would love to hear their story of why they are so precious to you.''

``You really would?'' asked Mari'il, an uncertain schoolgirl again.

``Yes, I really would,'' says Ariel, her gentle smile filling her face. ``Do you want to tell me now, or would you rather wait and tell me over a meal? ...Though maybe, in order to keep them safe, we shouldn't take them with us to a restaurant.''

Mari'il agreed it would be good not to risk spilling on them at the while eating. ``But I really do want to share them with you.''

Seeing the conflict between sharing and protecting fill Mari'il's face, Ariel ventured, ``Zephrael did have these all recorded for later analysis before `filing' them. If you'd like to go out to eat and talk there rather than here, we could take a recorder with those copies with us and leave these safely here.''

``Really?'' said Mari'il. ``That's perfect.'' She checked the time, and eagerly asked, ``Are you doing anything for lunch today? It's almost lunchtime.''

``That sounds good. I need to do a couple things at my office first and I can be back in time to...'' Tilting her head in thought, Ariel continued on a different direction, ``Or, if you don't mind waiting around for a little bit at my office, we could just stop by there on the way to lunch. That would save a little time and get us to lunch sooner.''

``I don't mind,'' replied Mari'il with a laugh. ``And I've always liked the guest-chair you have there.''

Ariel agreed, amused by Mari'il's enjoyment.

As Mari'il was putting the folder away, she noticed the keepsakes that Zephrael had not taken. ``Ariel, If you'd like to come back here after lunch, or some other time, I've got a couple more things from Earth that Zephrael didn't take. I can show you if you're interested.''

``I'd love to. You've piqued my interest. I think I'm free this afternoon, but let me double check when we stop by my office.''

ooo OOO ooo

The two made a brief stop in Ariel's office where she checked a few items on her terminal and sent a couple messages. Mari'il sat down in what she thought of as the ``reading chair'' as it was comfortable, spacious and had a shelf next to it where Ariel kept a collection of recorders she was working with at the time. Of course, for longer or more relaxed reading you could also use the headset reader she kept on the next shelf to display your book in front of you while you leaned back and the chair and relaxed. Mari'il felt that this ``clutter'' gave a more welcoming and lived-in feel than the regimented cleanliness of Loriel's office. She took the recorder Ariel gave her and quickly reviewed the recordings Zephrael had made of her things. She then sat back in the chair, resting her eyes on the nice mountain landscape Ariel had selected on the far wall while she thought over the images of her things. Ariel was soon done with her correspondence, and the two headed out to a small lunch café bringing the recorder with them.

.

At the café, while waiting for their food to be delivered, Mari'il took out the recorder and put it on the table. ``First are some pictures from our time on Forime.'' She showed the first. ``This is my—that is Mari's—grandmother. She took care of me after my parents died in the same incident that killed _Blue's_ landing party. She also sent me to Kaihou Academy where I met Ekaril.''

Ariel smiled. ``Her expression reminds me of my own grandmother. I guess all grandmothers are alike in the way they care for us.''

Mari'il agreed that they did. ``And these,'' she said flipping to the next picture, ``are my two best friends on Earth, Tsubael and Micchi—her full name is Kouzuki Michiko.''

Ariel raised a questioning eyebrow at Tsubael's name, but waited for Mari'il to say more about her, instead commenting ``They look like they would be very good friends.'' She smiled. ``And they do make a cute couple.''

``That they are.'' Mari'il had to smile, agreeing with both of Ariel's comments. She continued, ``Tsubael was an operator on _Blue_. She took care of all of _Blue's_ repairs after the explosion and also watched over Ekaril and then both of us while we attended Kaihou Academy.'' Mari'il tilted her head and smiled at the memory. ``You know, she saved both of our lives more than once during that time.''

``And both of them are still back on Fori... on Earth?''

``Yes,'' said Mari'il, and her expression grew wistful. ``The two of them are working to try to find a peaceful resolution between Arume and Forime. We all wished things could have worked out that way from the start instead of having the open war and all the killing that ended up happening. ...Too many have already died.'' Mari'il stopped and shook her head. ``But I didn't come here to lament about useless might-have-beens with you.''

``Mari'il,'' said Ariel, ``you don't need to apologize. I'm glad your friends are working for peace, and I already know you regret those deaths more than you should. Please don't be so hard on yourself. That you were able to make friends like these and then came all the way back here to help us is something to be proud of, instead.''

``Thank you.'' Mari'il shook her head to clear it, and advanced the recorder to the next picture.``Finally, this is a picture of the two of us as we were walking around the school festival. That's the school uniform we're both wearing. I actually brought mine back here and still have it in the room..''

Ariel just looked at the picture for a bit. ``You two make an even better couple than ...Micchi and Tsubael do.'' Mari'il dropped her gaze and blushed at this. ``Seriously, you do. Just looking at it I can tell there's a special connection between you. I wish you both—both your bodies—could be here.''

Mari'il blushed deeper, then to cover her embarrassment flipped to the image of the cover of a pamphlet and showed the inside pages. ``This,'' she explained, ``is the script for the play that Micchi wrote for our school festival. It's titled _The Girl of Orleans,_ and is based on a character from Earth history and legend. We, Mari and Ekaril, played the two leads in it. Sadly, Master Commander Shivariel's attack interrupted the play and we were never able to finish performing it.''

``May I?'' asked Ariel, inquiring if she could look through the script in more detail. She flipped through the pages when told go ahead. Her perusal was interrupted by the arrival of their food, so she turned off the recorder and set it aside while they ate.

``I wish I understood For... I mean Earth's language,'' Ariel commented as she began her meal. ``I'd love to read this. I'll bet not being able to really bothered Zephrael.''

``If you'd like,'' responded Mari'il, ``I could get you a translation, or at least clean up what the computer does. It's written in one of the Earth's languages known as Japanese''

``Please. If it's not too much trouble.''

``Sure.'' Mari'il laughed and paused to sip her drink. ``It's not like I have a shortage of free time now that Loriel is away and not talking with me.'' She turned her initial worry about Loriel being gone turned into a smile as she remembered how Tsubael's reading Micchi's copy of the play brought the two of them closer together.

ooo OOO ooo

After lunch, Ariel accompanied Mari'il back to her room where she took a package from one of the lockers. Showing it to Ariel, she explained, ``Here's the rest of what I brought from Earth.'' She pulled out a folded outfit and set it in front of Ariel, carefully smoothing the folds, relishing the touch of the old familiar fabric. ``This was the uniform we wore at Kaihou Academy, the school Ekaril and Mari attended with Micchi. It's what we were wearing in that picture of us together. Just taking it out and looking at it again is nostalgic.''

``That looks nice.'' She reached out to run her fingers over the cloth. ``And I like the way the fabric feels. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to see you model it later. I think you looked good in it.''

Mari'il blushed at the complement, and agreed to do that sometime. ``And these two feathers are...'' Mari'il held them up, blushing and swallowing to clear the lump in her throat. ``They are from the surveillance remote which brought Ekaril's consciousness to Mari.'' Tears filled her eyes, and she gave the feathers the gentlest caress with her other hand. ``They're all that is left of her.''

``That must make them especially precious to you.'' Ariel smiled, seeing their true importance. ``I'm glad that Zephrael never touched them. They mean far too much to allow them to be handled by uncaring hands like hers.''

Mari'il nodded, unable to get any words past the lump in her throat. [[ _Don't worry, dear,_ ]] Ekaril reassured her. [[ _I'll_ always _be here for you. Nothing can separate us now._ ]]

[[ _And I'll always be here for you too. I will never forget all that you sacrificed for me, all that you've given me._ ]]

Ariel reached out and touched Mari'il's hand, careful not to touch the feathers. ``Thank you for showing me these treasures of yours. I'm honored.'' She gave her a gentle smile. ``Let me see if I can get you a secure box to keep them in, one that Zephrael can't get into, so you don't have to worry.''

``Thank you,'' replied Mari'il, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. ``It would be nice to know they're somewhere safe.'' She smiled back and rubbed the feathers over Ariel's fingers, explicitly sharing Ekaril's touch with her. ``And thank you for being a friend I could show these to, someone I can share these memories with.''

ooo OOO ooo

A while later, Ariel and Mari'il again shared a meal. Ariel had finished reading the translation of _The Girl of Orleans_ which Mari'il had given her, and they arranged to talk about it while they ate.

``Your friend Michiko is certainly a good writer,'' began Ariel. ``Even though I don't know the Fori... Earth story of this Jeanne d'Arc, the characters and their feelings came across very well. All of the characters are also well defined individuals. ...You say that Michiko was only a high-school student? How old would that make her?''

Mari'il agreed that Micchi was a good writer, and explained how old she was and that she'd been writing her own stories since she was a small child.

``That is young to show this much talent, or is that typical for young Forime. I wonder whether our longer lives affect us in that regard.''

``No, Micchi really is exceptional. Normal Forime her age don't have this much talent either. She did start writing at a much younger age than most. I wouldn't say that Forime seem to mature any faster than Arume, though sometimes I wonder about adult Arume who act immaturely. ...though there are plenty of adult Forime like that too.''

Ariel laughed, agreeing that such immaturity seemed to be universal.

Mari'il then gave a brief description of the legend and history of Jeanne d'Arc on Earth.

Ariel found this both interesting and surprising. ``It almost sounds like Jeanne had telepathic abilities, and maybe even those beyond touch. There is an Arume legend or two which also point to that kind of telepathy, but I've always thought they were fiction.''

``They may be,'' answered Mari'il. ``I can imagine that the desire for telepathy would be something shared among all sentient beings.''

``The other thing that seemed special to me is how Michiko depicted the relationship and interaction between Jeanne and the schoolgirl. It seems like that echoes what you've told me about the relationship the two of you had in school there.''

Mari'il smiled. ``Well, the better pieces of it, for the most part.'' She then added, ``We later learned that it was a conversation between the two of us and Tsubael's image-shift that gave Michiko the inspiration to write this play. She never saw Tsubael's image, but seeing us talking to `someone above who wasn't there' made her think of Jeanne d'Arc and her visions. Thankfully we were far enough away that she couldn't hear anything said, and didn't know that we were actually looking _at_ and talking _to_ someone.''

``So then this play really is a gift from her to you. I'm glad I was able to return your copy to you.''

Mari'il smiled, agreeing with the aptness of this description, though she added that Michiko thought the play was a gift from them, specifically Tsubael. The two continued talking about the play and other happenings on Forime for the rest of the lunch.


	5. Chapter 5: Trial

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 5**

**Trial**

* * *

Mari'il put on her Arume uniform and once more waited for Loriel's aide to come pick her up. She knew their destination in Admiralty House would not be Loriel's office this time, even though Loriel had recently returned from the Fleet Exercise. Today was the day she was to meet the board of inquiry convened concerning her actions on Forime. The aide was silent as the skimmer took them both there. On the way, Ekaril worried about the outcome of the board: if she were found guilty, she was prepared to accept whatever penalty the board decreed—for such was the duty of a commander—but she didn't want Mari to also have to suffer for this, as Mari had done nothing wrong. At the same time, Mari was worried for Ekaril as well: she felt that Ekaril had done nothing wrong on Earth and so deserved no punishment, yet Ekaril was still worried about it, and her very being worried concerned Mari.

They arrived at the appointed hearing room. Ekaril was ushered in and found Loriel along with two other Arume, all in full uniform, sitting behind a table on a slightly raised dais. This was the typical arrangement for a formal hearing, Ekaril explained to Mari. As a concession to this not being a full judicial trial, Mari'il was permitted to sit down opposite them, as opposed to having to remain standing for the duration.

.

Grand Admiral Loriel opened the proceedings by introducing the other to members sitting on this board of inquiry: Master Commander Phanuel and Master Commander Tadael. Neither of them were known to Ekaril from before, but she hoped that they would be fair. She didn't know whether to be frightened or reassured that only Phanuel wore the insignia of the judicial branch.

``Commander Ekaril, Mari'il,'' began Loriel, ``this board is convened to decide on certain of your actions as commander of _Blue_ during the expedition to Forime, and what further, if any, action should be taken concerning them. The actions in question include: your non-communication with your flagship for five years, your destruction of a flagship probe, potentially revealing our presence on Forime, your attacking the other ships in the expedition, your declaration of independence from your own flagship and commander, and finally the attack and destruction of that flagship.'' She paused and looked at her fellow board-members. ``The question before this board is whether these actions amount to mutiny and rebellion, possibly in the face of an enemy force, or whether they were taken to uphold your original mission orders in the face of illegal orders and actions by the rest of the expeditionary squadron.''

Phanuel and Tadael nodded, agreeing with this statement of purpose for this board of inquiry.

``The matter before this board also poses a unique complication,'' continued Loriel. ``Mari'il, you have come to us as Commander Ekaril, and though not possessing her body, pass all authentications with her full private code sequences. For the purposes of this board and its decisions will you agree that you are Commander Ekaril, and will you accept any judgment it renders on her as binding on yourself?''

``I will,'' answered Mari'il. And the feeling of unity, acceptance and love that Mari gave Ekaril assured her that she had answered correctly for both of them.

[[ _After all,_ ]] Mari added silently to her. [[ _You did so much of this to defend me and `my people.' I feel I should share what comes to you because of it._ ]]

``Thank you, that makes our job easier. Now, the main evidence presented to this board is the full log of _Blue_ along with sundry other recordings made by Ekaril, Tsubael and Azanael, all members of the expedition to Forime. In addition to these documents, there are also the interviews I conducted with Mari'il upon her arrival here. Commander Ekaril, will you declare that these are true to the best of your knowledge? Do you wish to contest anything in them or add anything to them?''

``They are true to the best of my knowledge. I do not wish to contest them, nor do I have anything to add.'' Again, a calm acceptance suffused Mari'il's voice.

``Thank you, Ekaril.'' She turned to her fellow board-members. ``Master Commander Phanuel, Master Commander Tadael, you have reviewed the evidence. Do you have anything further you would wish to ask Commander Ekaril?''

They each did, asking a few penetrating questions dealing with Ekaril's understanding of the mission's orders and the specifics of her interactions with Master Commander Shivariel. Loriel also asked a couple of her own, following up on these.

This questioning completed, Loriel turned back to Ekaril. ``Thank you for your cooperation, Commander Ekaril. Do you have anything you'd like to say in conclusion?''

``I would like to say again that I deeply regret all of the deaths that happened in the course of these events, and also that we were unable to fulfill many of our mission objectives due to the initial explosion of _Blue's_ drive.'' She took a deep breath and looked directly at the three. ``If I may be so bold as to make a request of this board: that all of Tsubael's actions on Forime be considered as having been under my direct orders, that she not be punished for trying her best to follow those orders, fulfill our mission, and protect her ship and her commander.'' She bowed her head in supplication.

[[ _Thank you,_ ]] said Mari, silently. [[ _Thank you for trying to protect Tsubael. I know she would appreciate that, though she would say you didn't need to. Let me thank you in her place._ ]]

[[ _It is all I can do,_ ]] answered Ekaril. [[ _I hope it is enough. She deserves so much more._ ]]

``Thank you for your testimony Commander Ekaril,'' Loriel answered. ``This board will now deliberate over the evidence and testimony presented.'' She pressed the keypad in front of her, and the door opened to reveal an aide waiting outside. ``You are dismissed until these deliberations are completed.''

Ekaril rose and saluted the three board-members, then turned to leave with the aide. She almost missed the barest flash of a grin on Loriel's face and her quiet comment, ``Hopefully we won't take too long.''

ooo OOO ooo

The aide took Mari'il to a nearby room to await a summons from the board. She offered her something to drink, so Mari'il took a cup of tea both to moisten her now-dry mouth and calm her nerves.

Mari found it amusing that tea seemed to take the same cultural position on both Arume and Earth—or at least Japan. This observation helped distract Ekaril from worrying, and she thanked Mari for that as they sipped the tea and vainly tried to relax.

.

Sooner than Mari'il would have expected the aide returned for her and escorted her back to the hearing room.

The three officers were seated as before. Loriel greeted Mari'il and announced that the board had finished their deliberations. This time Mari'il remained standing before the board to formally hear their decision.

Loriel laid out the board's findings: they could not condemn her lack of communication nor her abandoning some of the mission objectives given the damage to _Blue_ from the drive explosion. ``We find that you did quite well under those circumstances.'' All of _Blue's_ attacks were judged to be in self-defense, as Shivariel seemed to have specially ordered the destruction of _Blue._ Even the final battle was so judged, the weaker case for self-defense being balanced by Shivariel's exceedingly questionable actions in the first place. Finally, Ekaril would not be censured for revealing Arume to the Forime. They should not have been able to see Tsubael's image-shift, and none except Mari could. Any further revelations to Mari had only come after Shivariel had already revealed the existence Arume to her by attacking her with the probe. Also, while they did not make it an official ruling, the board felt that Shivariel exceeded her original mission limitations and her orders and actions were, if not down right illegal, at least highly questionable.

``So, in conclusion,'' Loriel stated, ``this board finds that Commander Ekaril did her best to uphold both her mission and the honor of the Fleet under exceedingly difficult circumstances. While it is unquestionable that much regrettable has happened, we find nothing worthy of censure or prosecution. Furthermore, we have decided to grant Commander Ekaril's request that all of Tsubael's actions be considered to be under her direct orders, though the other findings render any need to protect her moot.''

Mari'il saluted the board, who stood to return her salute. ``Thank you for your deliberation and your judgment,'' she concluded with the formal words of completion.

.

Loriel finally allowed herself to to smile and sat back down. ``relax and have a seat, Mari'il,'' she invited. ``Now that this board is finished, we can drop the formality.'' When Mari'il complied, she continued, ``I hope we've answered your biggest concern, but we would like to continue talking to you. Phanuel,'' she gestured to her right, ``is continuing to look into Shivariel's conduct on Forime, and would appreciate your insight on that matter. And it is because of this ongoing investigation that this board has not ruled on the legality of her actions and orders, merely that Ekaril has done nothing blameworthy. All that we have heard makes us suspicious of her personal goals during the mission. Could she have been part of a larger conspiracy or even aiming to set up an independent dominion under her personal rule?''

``Of course,'' replied Mari'il with a small bow to her. ``At your convenience.'' She was worried about being involved in something like this, but you simply did not turn down the judicial branch when they asked to talk to you.

``And Tadael here,'' Loriel gestured to her left. ``is from the Bureau of Ships and would like to discuss the performance of the various experimental ship types sent on this mission. You will have more insights here than anyone else we could talk to.''

``I would be happy to,'' answered Mari'il with another small bow. ``I'm afraid I can't tell you as much about the other ships compared with _Blue._ On the other hand, I will unhesitatingly recommend _Blue._ She did more, and endured more than I would ever have expected.'' She hung her head and continued softly, ``She was a better ship than I was a commander.''

[[ _Don't say that,_ ]] Mari chided her. [[ _Blue was a good ship, but you were an exceptional commander. I've talked to both Tsubael and Onomil, and they agree._ ]]

Before Ekaril could respond to Mari's silent rebuke, Tadael said, ``Thank you, Mari'il. I'm sure you still have a lot of useful insights which can help us at 'Ships. I'll arrange a meeting with you sometime later when it's convenient.''

``As will I,'' added Phanuel, the smile now on her face making her no longer seem as much an unfeeling judicial enforcer.

``Well then,'' concluded Loriel. ``Since we seem to be done here, let's adjourn. We can meet again later for these other matters.'' She rose and led the others out of the hearing room, and her aide took Mari'il back to her own room.

Back in her own room, Mari'il pondered the events of the day. [[ _See, I told you that you hadn't done anything wrong,_ ]] said Mari.

Ekaril didn't fully agree, but concluded that it was still good to have the threat of prosecution removed from over their head.

[[ _And they've also explicitly asked for your help and judgment, so don't say that you have nothing to offer. ...I wish there was something I could do to help too._ ]] Mari trailed off.

Ekaril tried her best to reassure her, even though nothing immediately came to mind.


	6. Chapter 6: A Revelation, A Proposal

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 6**

**A Revelation, A Proposal**

* * *

Ariel took Mari'il out for another of their now-typical dinners. As the skimmer headed away from the hospital, Ariel explained this time they were going to Bayside Seafood, and that someone would be joining them.

Mari'il's eyebrows rose. ``Bayside Seafood, and someone... you don't mean?...''

Ariel smiled, ``Yes, I do. She'll explain more there.''

Sure enough, when they arrived at the restaurant, they were brought to a triangular table. Loriel was already sitting there and smiled, gesturing for them to join her; she had only recently returned from the Fleet Exercises. This restaurant was renowned not only for its seafood but also for it's discretion, and their table was one of those secluded in a private alcove where it would be nearly impossible for others to hear any of their conversation.

Though Mari'il was bursting with curiosity about the private location and Loriel's presence, the three kept their conversation to inconsequential topics until their food was served—Loriel and Mari'il both ordered the bluefish for old time's sake.

``First off,'' Loriel began, ``Mari'il, I owe you an apology for the way Zephrael has treated you. I didn't realize how xenophobic she was, nor how that would affect her work. She is the head of neuro-science at the fleet hospital, so you can see why she got involved. But we'll limit any further contact you might have with her as much as possible. Given her position in the hospital, I can't completely guarantee you'll never see her again, but I will do my best. We can move you under Ariel's care, nominally because of her studying your genetics now instead of telepathy. I figure you won't object to that, but we did want to ask you about this first.''

``Thank you,'' Mari'il answered quietly, bowing her head. ``I'd appreciate that.'' She had feared that Zephrael might have actually been following Loriel's policies and was very relieved to find that her old friend was still her old friend and also disapproved of Zephrael's attitude and methods.

``You're welcome,'' said Loriel. ``I should also apologize to you for neglecting my duty and allowing these troubles with Zephrael to happen while I was away. Though it really is Ariel that you should be thanking. No sooner was I back from the Fleet Exercise than she came to see me. She told me all about the humiliating treatment she found that Zephrael subjected you to and demanded, in no uncertain terms, that Zephrael be removed from your case and placed where she could no longer `threaten' you. You should have seen her, Mari'il. She has incredible strength behind that gentle smile of hers. She is like the rose: beautiful, with soft delicate petals, but having a strong heart behind that with sharp thorns to protect herself and those she cares for.''

Ariel blushed at this, bowing her head and shaking it in denial.

``No, Ariel,'' Loriel continued, ``You did the right thing. Don't apologize or try to deny it. Nobody should be treated the way Zephrael treated Mari'il.''

Mari'il took Ariel's hand, causing her to look up into her eyes. ``Thank you, Ariel. Those words are far too inadequate, but thank you for all you've done for me.''

Ariel blushed again, and Loriel smiled. ``I have a feeling you may not be done thanking her. And that comes to the second reason we are here.''

Mari'il's head came back up to look at Loriel once more.

``Ariel also told me of some of the discoveries she made, and she has an interesting idea we'd like to talk over with you. We thought that it might be more appropriate to do this somewhere slightly informal, and given what we were just talking about, somewhere you'd know Zephrael wasn't involved or listening. I believe Ariel hasn't told anyone else of this yet.'' When Ariel nodded in agreement, she concluded, ``So I'll let her explain.''

Mari'il turned her curious gaze to Ariel, who began. ``You know I've been studying your genetic samples?'' She waited for Mari'il to nod. ``Thankfully Zephrael just put them into the standard hospital lab and proceeded to ignore them. I wouldn't want to put you though the pain of that sampling twice for no real reason. The first thing I discovered was an astonishing degree of similarity between your genome and ours—way more than parallel worlds would indicate likely. You do have several genetic groupings which are rare, and a couple more which we have only historical knowledge of.'' She paused and shook her head. ``In short your genome, and thus you, are far closer to Arume than we might have guessed. I suppose this is the reason for your exceptional compatibility with Ekaril and Arume technology.''

Loriel smiled at Mari'il's look of surprise and confusion at this news. ``I think I can explain a bit here,'' she interjected. She took a quick look around, verifying their privacy, then continued, looking at them. ``What I'm about to tell you is still a tightly kept secret: Ekaril will understand its classification of Fleet Restricted 3. I feel you have the right to know, but please don't spread it further.'' When both Mari'il and Ariel agreed, she continued. ``This goes back a bit in our history. I don't know if you recall the history of the discovery of Leminov shift travel and the Emil Force drive, but those happened before the male Arume completely died out. It turns out that some of the early exploration missions included male crew, and one of those actually made it to Forime—I mean Earth. The mission stayed there for some time, investigating a world which seemed very similar to ours. ...That much we know. The stories also suggest that they stayed long enough for some of the males to have children by earth-women.''

Mari'il and Ariel's eyes grew wide in surprise.

``It was in hopes of finding descendants of these children that the expedition to Forime was instructed to especially investigate the archipelago where _Blue_ was assigned, as that was where this ship spent most of its time. If we could find some of their male descendants, we might be able to directly restore the lost male Arume. Unfortunately, it was decided to keep this information secret and hidden from the expeditionary force, as we were unsure if it was true. Also some did not want this possibility to influence any opinions. Not even Master Commander Shivariel was told of it.'' She paused, smiling, ``I think we can now agree that these stories are true. I would say that Ariel's studies confirm that you, Mari'il, or should I say Mari, are one of the descendants of that ancient mission.''

Mari'il and Ariel just stared at Loriel for a bit, surprised, as neither had ever suspected that Mari might actually have some Arume blood, even though the genetic tests pointed that way. Mari'il was the first to react. ``Now I understand that cryptic comment you made at our dinner here before I left saying that I should be open to finding the Forime closer to us than might be expected. I thought you were talking about their hearts and minds, given we share a common sentience, but now I see you meant more. Thank you for telling me. I think that remark helped me value the Forime more than I would have otherwise. And learning this makes me realize how right that was.'' A private smile grew on her face. ``Though I also learned my interpretation about our hearts and minds was also true.''

``Thank you for remembering that comment and getting the message.''

``If only Master Commander Shivariel could have understood this too,'' mused Mari'il. She paused, thoughtful. ``Could this also be why Mari could see an image shift from _Blue_ like Ekaril could, but unlike anyone else? And is this why we were able to share touch telepathy?''

``I wouldn't be surprised,'' replied Loriel. ``I don't know a lot about that field, but I do know that the image shift was tailored to be seen by Arume, so that fits. We'd need to talk to an expert in neuro-genetics. Unfortunately the leading one here is Zephrael.''

``That is unfortunate. Though it makes sense why she was the first scientist to look at me.'' Mari'il sighed. ``I guess the real details of why aren't as important to me right now, but I figure you would like to understand more eventually.''

``Yes, that's true. But I'm also willing to wait until we can find someone else to work with you on it, since you are.''

.

Ariel, who had been staring off into space thinking, brought her mind back to the conversation and looked straight at Mari'il and asked, ``Forime generations are about twenty-five years, right?''

Mari'il agreed that they were after a brief thought, confused as to why she asked the question.

``Then you're even more remarkable. You have far more Arume genetic groupings than is likely after this many generations, many times more. I guess we should thank your ancestors. I think you, or maybe all of us, are very lucky in this regard. Not only have you inherited the brain structures sensitive to image shift and telepathy, but your genome also looks like it has the groups important for nanomachine compatibility.''

Mari'il raised a quizzical eyebrow, not understanding the implications here.

``In short,'' Ariel concluded, ``if you'd like, I think we can give you the same nanomachine restoration treatments we sometimes use for those suffering from those deficiency conditions I told you about earlier.'' She trailed off, ``That is, of course, assuming that you would want this and were willing to suffer the transition sickness from the treatments.''

``Really?'' asked Mari'il, not quite believing her ears. Ariel nodded, and she looked over to Loriel.

``Yes, Really. Ariel is telling the truth here. I'll also authorize these treatments as part of `veterans benefits' if you would like them.''

Mari'il just sat there, speechless for a bit.

[[ _Mari, dear,_ ]] Ekaril said silently, [[ _I leave this decision up to you. It's your body._ ]]

[[ _Ekaril, it's your body too now!_ ]] Mari'il smiled and blushed at the feeling of love Ekaril gave her at this statement. [[ _Besides, don't you want this?_ ]]

[[ _I want to know what_ you _would want. ...But yes, it might be nice._ ]]

[[ _Then let's do it! If this will let us do some of the things you did before, and also let us fit in better here. That'd be great._ ]]

[[ _Mari-san, remember the transition sickness Ariel mentioned. Let's find out more before we give our answer._ ]]

Mari had to agree with this. She looked back at Ariel, who returned a gentle, knowing smile and said, ``Now that it looks like you've talked it over in your head, have you decided about the treatments or do you have more questions?''

Mari'il had to laugh, and Loriel soon joined in. ``You know us too well,'' she commented. ``This does sound tempting, but you're right, we would like to know more: specifically about the likelihood of success or of complications, as well as the transition sickness you mentioned.''

``I thought you might.'' Ariel smiled. ``After all, this is effectively a major organ transplant. I do think there's a very good chance of success with the treatments, otherwise I wouldn't have suggested them to you. I'll look into that in more detail for you, and of course, we'll do some compatibility tests to make extra sure.

``Typically there aren't any bad side effects beyond transition sickness, but I'll find out all I can about that for you. Transition sickness is usually several days of aches, fever, and lethargy while your body, especially your immune system, gets used to the nanomachines and while they replicate through your body and learn to recognize it as well. I'm not sure what diseases you have on Forime to compare this with, but the symptoms are similar to the bird-swine virus here. I'll send you the info I have now and let you know what else I turn up.''

``Thank you,'' responded Mari'il. ``I'd appreciate hearing of what you find.''

Ariel glanced at Loriel who nodded. She told Mari'il, ``I can also show you the full sources I find. I know that your experience with Zephrael didn't give you much reason to trust us or our medical system.'' Her face saddened as she thought of the harm and injustice done to Mari'il. ``But I want to be as open and trustworthy as possible with you.''

``Thank you Ariel,'' said Mari'il, kindly. ``You've been a friend, a very good friend, and you've already earned our trust. Thank you.''

The three turned to more mundane topics of conversation as they finished their meal. Mari'il was also a bit distracted as her mind swirled with all she had just learned, with the new possibilities it opened up for her yet also the risks that went with them.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il headed over to Admiralty house, this time for the meeting with Phanuel they arranged after the Board on Ekaril. As the skimmer took her there, she mused over how things had changed since her arrival. Her early days at the hospital were likely closely monitored. Although nobody called it anything like ``house arrest,'' Ekaril knew enough about sensor capabilities to realize they didn't have to place a guard at her door. So Mari'il cooperated with what she assumed the orders for her were: she never tried to leave her hospital wing without escort and mostly kept to her room. This made her especially grateful for her trips out to eat with Ariel.

She arrived at Phanuel's office and knocked on the door. Phanuel had said this was an informal meeting, but Mari'il still put on her uniform for it. It was certainly acceptable to wear, and she didn't have that large a wardrobe to pick from. Also Ekaril found it comfortable and familiar, and that helped put Mari more at ease.

Phanuel answered immediately, inviting her in. ``Thank you for coming by, Mari'il. ...Or should I say Ekaril ...or Mari?'' Phanuel smiled at her own confusion.

Mari'il laughed in return. ``Any of them is fine.'' When Phanuel cocked her head, prompting her to express a real preference, she continued, ``I guess Mari'il is the most appropriate, as both of us are in here.'' She pointed to her head. ``And that's the one which seems to best express that.''

``Anyway, Mari'il, the reason I wanted to talk with you more is that I'm looking deeper into the conduct of the Forime expedition. Your logs and testimony have given us a lot to go on, but there are times where nothing beats an actual conversation about personal observations.''

Mari'il couldn't help the shadow of fear that passed across her face. She quickly tried to suppress it, but Phanuel was observant enough to catch it.

``Don't worry,'' Phanuel replied to her unstated concern. ``Nothing in this investigation will affect you, though I am trying to see if we can get an official letter of thanks for your help into your file. What I'm really concerned about is what exactly Master Commander Shivariel was up to. Was she actually following the mission objectives, or did she have a different set of goals which she was just using the mission as a cover for.'' She paused, considering. ``You'll be interested to hear that we discovered that she did pull strings to arrange for the other command staff on the expedition. You, Ekaril, were the exception, and we wonder if she was trying to use you as a smoke-screen to hide her other manipulations. For that matter, we are also wondering if her actions might be part of something bigger, perhaps with parts still remaining here or on Forime?''

``I... I don't know anything for sure,'' answered Mari'il, carefully considering her memories. ``But if I can help, I'd like to.'' She smiled. ``After all, I have friends on two worlds that I'd like to protect, and I remember both Shivariel's actions and the Narame war. You asked about observations and impressions. Now that I think about it, Shivariel's attitude toward me felt awfully similar to Zephrael's. It felt like they were both just using me as a guinea pig for their experiments: Shivariel with Mari, the Thought-Condensing weapon—though I didn't know it at the time—and maybe more; and Zephrael with telepathy or the like.''

Phanuel nodded. ``Thanks. This was exactly the type of impression I was interested in hearing, and one you really only convey when talking directly to someone. And while this doesn't provide direct evidence about her, it helps put her actions in perspective and gives us more of an understanding of what her thought process might have been.''

Mari'il and Phanuel continued talking for quite some time. It turned out that Phanuel had actually started looking into some irregularities about the Forime expedition and invasion before Mari'il returned, so her arrival was an unexpected boon. Mari'il tried to help her as much as she could, and she regretted that she didn't know more.

She also found it interesting how her impression of Phanuel had changed from ``uncertain possible adversary'' to something more friendly—or at least neutral—during the Board and the course of this talk. It certainly wasn't what Ekaril expected from someone in the judicial branch.

Phanuel brought the meeting to an end, apologizing for having another on her agenda and thanking Mari'il again for her help. Mari'il agreed to talk over this further with her, as things were looking more complicated than either originally expected.

During the skimmer ride back to the Hospital, Mari'il pondered this meeting. It went far better than she had thought it would, and for that she was grateful. Though some of the possibilities it raised were definitely worrisome, especially for the fate of Earth.

It also made her wonder how her upcoming meeting with Tadael would go. Part of her wanted to take this meeting as a hopeful sign that it would go well, especially as she first thought Tadael's would be the easier of the two meetings. But another pessimistic, fearful part whispered that since this meeting went well, as did the one with Loriel and Ariel, that her meeting with Tadael would go terribly in order to maintain some bizarre cosmic balance. _Oh well,_ she thought, _two out of three aren't that bad._

.

In the end, Mari'il's fears proved unfounded, as she and Tadael had quite a congenial meeting. Tadael was very happy to hear everything Mari'il could tell her about how the various ships had performed during the journey to Forime and while there. Tadael had expected to talk about _Blue's_ combat experience with the other ships, and how that reflected on their all their designs. She was surprised by the accuracy of Ekaril's impressions and insights into _Blue's_ computer and remote sensors.

``I wish Tsubael were here to give you her first-hand impressions,'' Mari'il commented, ``as she actually has more hands-on time with _Blue_ than I do.''

* * *

**Author's Note:**  
As some of you have been interested in which facts I have pulled from the manga, compared to ones I have made up, I thought you might find this of interest. The following contains a spoiler for the _Blue Drop: Tenshi no Bokura_ manga, so some may not wish to read the rest of this note, though I will still tread lightly.

The story of Arume men and their visit to Earth which I put in Loriel's mouth comes pretty much straight from there. In volume 2, chapter 11, Razael states: ``In the distant past, we Arume made it possible to travel brane-space. This is a tale from it time when there were still Arume men... Arume men landed on this world and had children with Forime women. Those genes have been passed down through generations among Forime... Even after our Arume men have perished, those genes alone remain among Forime.'' She goes on to add that this information was kept from the expeditionary force, and that the home planet's aim on Earth was the restoration of Arume men.

I figured it made sense for Mari to also have these genes, though I've tilted the home-planet Arume focus more toward preserving their population rather than ``Arume Needs Men.''

The keeping of this information from the expeditionary force is also straight from the manga, though Yoshitomi-sensei did not really state why it was kept from them.

On the other hand, the nanomachine deficiency diseases and the ability to treat them, and thus Mari'il, are my invention. Though I figure that such logically followed from the initial premise of Arume nanomachines.


	7. Chapter 7: A New Journey

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 7**

**A New Journey**

* * *

Ariel and Mari'il met many more times to discuss the nanomachine treatments. Ariel also ran several more tests for Mari'il to try to better determine her compatibility with the nanomachines and the likelihood of the treatments succeeding. The first comparisons looked promising, but they both wanted to make sure that Mari's differences as a Forime, including her different symbiotic microbes, wouldn't cause problems or rejection. While this was promising, the other investigations into the differing symbiotic bacteria between Forime and Arume had yet to yield anything helpful for the population decline. After these tests, and much discussion and pondering, Mari'il agreed that this was something she wanted, so they began planning them.

A knock at her door interrupted Mari'il's working up an answer to another of the questions Phanuel asked her about the Forime expedition. The door opened to reveal Ariel and a new Arume. Her waves of golden hair cascaded down past her petite shoulders offered a contrast to the tall Ariel's long, straight, raven locks.

``Mari'il, do you have a moment?'' asked Ariel.

``Of course,'' said Mari'il, putting away her reader and turning away from the small desk in her room.

``Thank you,'' Ariel replied as the two entered. ``I'd like to introduce Raphael. I've asked her to help with your treatments. She'll be your nurse, taking care of you every day and making sure you're doing well. We wanted to go over a few things with you before starting.'' They sat down and proceeded to review more the details of the course of treatments.

Over the next several days, Raphael regularly visited Mari'il, first finishing up these discussions and preparations for the treatments. In subsequent visits, she sometimes administered the current phase of the treatment—which were usually a series of intravenous nanomachine injections—and often she just checked on Mari'il to make sure she was doing all right. While she seemed a bit suspicious of Mari'il at the start, she was always professional and made sure that Mari'il had the care she needed.

.

Several days into the treatments Mari'il lay in her bed feeling miserable. Her muscles ached, and she felt too exhausted to do much more than lie here and fitfully nap. Neither could she really sleep well: she'd wake up feeling too cold or having drenched her sheets in sweat. Mari and Ekaril both experienced this transition sickness, since by now they were tied closely enough that the discomfort one of them felt the other also did. They hoped that they would similarly share joy that either felt, but at this time they weren't up to pondering such deep thoughts.

As annoying as these symptoms were, they were all among the ones that Ariel had said could be side effects of transition sickness. They came from her body and the new nanomachines adapting to each other. Mari's immune system had to learn to accept the nanomachines as ``self'' and the nanomachines likewise had to integrate with Mari's body and body chemistry. This was equally important, as once the nanomachines settled in, they would also boost her immune system fighting off infections and the like.

Ariel came to see her periodically and reassured her that the treatments seemed to be progressing well according to all she could see and measure, and that Mari would recover. But when she lay there, alone and sick, Mari'il still worried whether she really would get better, and whether she was right to choose this treatment.

Raphael also stopped in several times each day to take care of her. She brought Mari'il her meals and medicines, offering what painkillers they could. When Mari'il's fever was especially bothersome, she would cool her forehead, and when her stomach was upset by the nanomachines integrating there, she tried to bring especially soothing meals.

Mari commented that, for all the advancements the Arume had, being sick still seemed to be just as hard. For the first time, she was glad that she was in a real hospital bed and not just an ordinary room.

As she nursed Mari'il through the transition sickness, Raphael seemed to grow less suspicious of her. And, as Mari'il got better, they started chatting about other interesting topics and not just the treatments, though Raphael never lost her professional demeanor. Mari'il distinctly remembered the day she gave her the first smile from her heart when they were comparing their favorite scenery on Arume and Earth. She came came to treasure Raphael's sliver laugh which came with that smile, especially when they were having a good time just chatting with each other. Maybe this could be the start of another friendship.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il was finally beginning to feel better when Ariel stopped by on one of her regular visits. After her ordinary instrument scan, she told Mari'il, ``It looks like the nanomachines are replicating and integrating well. Your eyes turning this blue like this is a good sign that they are, and these readings also say so. May I try one more test? I'm sorry but this will hurt a little.''

Mari'il agreed, so Ariel pricked her finger with a lancet. The lone drop of blood which oozed out turned white on touching the air. [[ _This is just like when you cut yourself when we were sewing costumes for Micchi's play,_ ]] Mari silently commented to Ekaril. [[ _I'm glad I'm becoming more like you._ ]] Ekaril agreed that it was, warmed by Mari's joy in their growing closer. Ekaril had worried that Mari might resent the changes she was undergoing which took her still farther from her old self and maybe even made her ``less human.'' Thankfully she didn't show any signs of this.

``This is good,'' commented Ariel as she held an absorbent pad over the wound for a moment until the bleeding stopped. ``It shows your nanomachines are working in your bloodstream carrying and storing extra oxygen among other things. I think you've come far enough to try some of the simple gravity control that they offer, like floating. Would you like to?''

Mari'il agreed she would, though not without some trepidation.

``Ekaril, perhaps you can help show Mari how to do this.'' Mari'il smiled at Ariel's willingness to talk directly to Ekaril. ``I figure it'll take a bit of practice before you're willing to do it in public, but I promise not to tell anyone of mishaps we have while learning.'' She checked that the door is locked to give them uninterrupted privacy, then had Mari'il sit in her chair and held her hands to steady her while she followed Ekaril's instructions. Mari'il's first few tries yielded no effect.

``Kyaa!'' Mari'il shot up from the chair and would have smacked her head on the ceiling except for Ariel's grip on her hands. She overbalanced Ariel, and the two fell backwards onto the bed. Mari'il's landing atop her knocked loose Ariel's grip on her hands, so Ariel quickly wrapped her arms around her to keep her from floating upward again.

The two lay there for a bit, laughing and catching their breath. Instead of getting up, Mari'il moved to return Ariel's hug and whispered into her ear, ``Thank you for saving me there. Are you all right?''

Ariel, who was about to let go, returned Mari'il's squeeze tenderly. ``You're welcome. I'm fine. I hope you are too.'' When Mari'il nodded, she then smiled and commented, ``I guess this proves that your nanomachines work.'' This set them both laughing again.

As they laughed, Mari and Ekaril both silently asked, [[ _Then, can you hear us when we talk like this?_ ]]

``Yes, I can.'' answered a confused Ariel. ``Wait, you didn't say that out loud, did you?''

[[ _No, we didn't. Thank you for all your help with these treatments. And thank you especially for being someone we would dare try this with._ ]]

[[ _No. Thank you!_ ]] replied Ariel, continuing to hold Mari'il. [[ _I've never experienced telepathy like this before. I've heard of it, but it's quite rare. Would you mind talking about this more later?_ ]]

[[ _No, we'd be happy to. Anyway, it's been too long since we've had a good hug like this, and thank you for it, even if it all came as a surprise._ ]]

[[ _If I may be so bold,_ ]] Ekaril interjects, [[ _Mari-dear, could you take Ariel's hug as being from me as well? I've wanted to give you a hug like this so many times, but having only one body for us made it impossible._ ]]

[[ _Oh, Ekaril, of course,_ ]] said Mari, as she hugged Ariel tighter while her eyes filled with tears. [[ _And please take the same from me._ ]]

[[ _Thank you both for trusting me enough to let me join you like this,_ ]] commented Ariel. She then continued, out loud, ``Perhaps we should get up though. Otherwise folks might think something else of us here on the bed.''

Mari'il laughed again as they get up, disentangling themselves from each other and straightening their clothing. They agreed to practice more with gravity control the next day, and also to spend some time talking about telepathy. They also arranged for Raphael to give a hand with the gravity control practice when Ariel wasn't around.

ooo OOO ooo

A few days later, Ariel was again by for her regular visit. ``I'm glad to see you look like you're feeling better. Are you?'' she asked. ``Do you think you might be ready to be up and around?''

Mari'il agreed that she was feeling better and starting to find bed a bit tiresome. With Raphael's help, she was rapidly learning how to control her nanomachines.

``Then what do you think about going out for dinner?''

``Great! I'd love to get out and eat a real meal again.''

``Good, your feeling that way means you should be over the worst part of transition sickness. Your vital signs are all looking good, but how you feel is always important as well. How does Sabrael's sound?''

``That sounds great.'' Mari'il smiled, remembering their first time there.

.

Ariel and Mari'il were seated at a table for two, similar to ones they'd had before, but giving them a view of the restaurant's small garden while still offering a little privacy. The two engaged in small talk until their dinner arrived. Mari'il was happy to feel better and get out, and enjoyed talking about the garden.

Midway through the meal, Ariel turned their conversation back to Mari'il's condition. ``You seem to be taking the nanomachine treatments rather well. Now that you're over the fever from transition sickness and are getting the hang of gravity control, things ought to be looking up from here on. If you're feeling up to it, I think the best thing now might be for you to get out and around so you and the nanomachines can finish adapting to each other in a less artificial environment, maybe somewhere you could get some exercise and practice or the like outdoors. Is there anywhere particular you'd like to go?''

Mari'il thought for a moment, then her cheeks colored at a memory. Quietly, she asked, ``Would be possible to spend a little time at Lover's Bay?'' Ekaril had told Mari of her dream of that before, and they thought that if it were possible...

``Yes,'' said Ariel. ``Yes, I think we could do that. That's a lovely spot, and the beach and ocean offer just the kind of environment I was thinking of.'' A thought brought a smile to her own face. ``And from what you've told me, I can't think of a better place for you to spend some quiet time together as Mari and Ekaril.''

Mari'il's blush deepened as she stammered, ``Thank you. Thank you for understanding.''

``You're welcome.'' Ariel nodded. ``You're special in so many ways. You've become a good friend, but I occasionally have to remind myself that I'm not your only friend here. You two give each other a partner you can never be separated from, and I think this could also offer you two a chance to be alone together without any of the rest of us intruding.''

Mari'il's deepening blush and nod told her that she had guessed right, and she was glad she hadn't suggested accompanying Mari'il on the trip.

ooo OOO ooo

Ariel quietly arranged a reservation for Mari'il at Lover's Bay Hotel and also a skimmer-taxi to take her there. The two-week reservation would be long enough to give Mari'il some undisturbed time for healing and growing, not to mention just having some fun.

Since she had more free time, Raphael took Mari'il out shopping for a swimsuit and other essentials she would need for the trip. Mari first thought to find a white one-piece swimsuit like Ekaril wore on their summer vacation. Ekaril was touched by Mari's appreciation of how she looked in it, but was able to talk Mari out of that style—it was awfully similar to the Fleet Uniform, not exactly something indicating fun independence. Keeping with the nostalgic theme, Mari'il started looking through the two-piece suits, smiling at Ekaril's interest in finding one similar to Mari's on that same vacation.

When Raphael commented that her own swimsuit was a little old, Mari'il convinced her to buy a new one. ``This one would look nice on you,'' said Mari'il, holding up a navy-blue one-piece. ``You should try this on.''

Raphael did. The suit featured asymmetrical cutouts on the sides so the effect was of a navy-blue ``Z'' on her figure. They both agreed she looked good in it, so Raphael decided to buy it for herself.

The two stopped for a snack at an outdoor cafe after finishing shopping. While they sipped their drinks, Mari and Ekaril told Raphael of their memories of a similar snack after the two of them finished shopping for the school play.

``Too bad there's no Ferris wheel her to ride as a reward to ourselves for finishing shopping,'' she commented. She then had to explain what a Ferris wheel was to Raphael, and this soon turned to a discussion of amusements on Arume. ``I guess Ferris wheels and the like wouldn't be as popular when you can just float up that high on your own.''

They weren't, but small skimmers with extra-large windows or even fully open tops were commonly used to fly over and view special scenery. The two-person size was especially popular with couples.

The setting sun brought a peaceful end to their excursion, and Raphael dropped Mari'il back off at the Hospital before heading home herself.


	8. Chapter 8: Healing Vacation

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 8**

**Healing Vacation**

* * *

The skimmer-taxi dropped down and landed in front Lover's Bay Hotel. Mari'il got out and inhaled deeply of the fresh salt air blowing in off the ocean, realizing how she missed this smell; it brought back memories of her time in Japan. She retrieved her luggage and walked through the inviting arched entrance into the main lobby. Raphael had told her that now was the off season for this resort, so she was not surprised to find the lobby practically empty. One quick transaction later, and Mari'il was directed towards her room.

She headed up and found her room on the third floor. It was spacious, featuring a round, comfortable bed, bigger than she was used to in the Fleet, and had a large window opening onto a small balcony overlooking the bay, as did most of this hotel's rooms. She unpacked the few things she brought with her and sat down at the room's table to review the welcome info and instructions as she had been instructed when checking-in. She was relieved to find that though the resort catered to couples, others were welcomed, even lone visitors. It focused on strengthening existing relationships rather than trying to find new ones, and asked consideration from guests in this regard. Mari was surprised to find this explicitly stated, but both she and Ekaril found it reassuring.

.

With her unpacking and reading completed, Mari'il put on her new swimsuit and headed out from the hotel to the beach. The sun was still climbing toward noon, warming the white sand and striking dazzling sparkles from the waves as they rolled in.

[[ _Ekaril, this is even more beautiful than you told me. I can see why it's famous. I'm so glad we came here._ ]]

[[ _So am I. This is my first time here as well, and I agree it is much better in reality than by report._ ]]

As they walked, they saw a few other couples also walking down the beach or just lying on the sand, relaxing in the sun. Glancing at some of these, Mari asked Ekaril, [[ _Could you take over our right hand for a bit?_ ]]

[[ _Sure,_ ]] agreed Ekaril, uncertain of why until Mari reached over and clasped this hand with her left. They realized that each of them controlling one of their clasped hands was a way they could still hold hands, even though they only had one body.

[[ _Oh Mari, my love,_ ]] said Ekaril, her voice full of emotion. [[ _You knew this was part of my dream, to walk hand-in-hand down the beach here. Thank you._ ]]

[[ _Ekaril, you know I love you too,_ ]] replied Mari, giving her hand a squeeze. [[ _And also remember you literally did dream of this in some that we shared back on Earth._ ]]

Neither was sure which of their thoughts and emotions brought the blush and smile to their face, but they fully agreed that they were both very, very happy.

ooo OOO ooo

Halfway down the beach, in the other direction from Mari'il's first walk, a small pier jutted out into the bay. Vacationers would come down here and use it to get to water deep enough for diving or fishing. A couple days after arriving here, Mari'il paused in her stroll this way down the beach and walked out to the end of the pier. She looked down into the water. Little fish swam to and fro, nibbling seaweed off the pilings supporting the pier and sometimes picking a morsel from the sandy bottom, clearly visible through the crystal water.

[[ _The water here is as clear as at Funatsumaru-san's home,_ ]] Ekaril observed.

Mari laughed in agreement. She looked out over the bay. [[ _This does remind me of the bay by her home. Look, there's even a buoy out there about where that rock was. You wanna try swimming out to it?_ ]]

The buoy marked the edge of the channel leading up to the pier for the occasional boat which would come dock here. It also held a navigational beacon which cruise ships could use when landing in the bay.

[[ _Yes, lets,_ ]] agreed Ekaril, laughing. [[ _Though a race there will end in a tie this time. We also need not fear being separated on the swim there._ ]]

[[ _Kicking off my shoes and splashing in would be fun,_ ]] commented Mari, [[ _but I'd rather you taught me that graceful dive you did._ ]]

Ekaril agreed to, touched that Mari remembered her dive, and Mari's appreciation of her grace and beauty colored her cheeks.

So Mari'il slipped off her shoes and cape, folding it and laying them all in an neat pile near the edge of the pier. Following Ekaril's promptings, she leapt forward and up from the pier's edge. Supported by the barest touch of her gravity control she arced cleanly toward the water's surface where her outstretched arms smoothly parted the water ahead of her.

As they dove below the surface, Mari thanked Ekaril for her help. Their past days of playing and swimming in the surf and the shallows had helped Mari'il's coordination using her nanomachines. She was able to call upon Ekaril's memories and skills with her nanomachines, so she learned much faster than she might have. It was almost more a remembering of skills once well known than actual learning.

This dive also reminded both of them of their very first encounter where Ekaril saved the drowning Mari during the Kamioki Island incident when _Blue's_ Emil-Force drive exploded.

[[ _Thank you again for saving me,_ ]] said Mari, her love and gratitude obvious to Ekaril.

[[ _But you were the only one I could save,_ ]] replied a downcast Ekaril. [[ _I was responsible for so many deaths that day—like your parents ...and Onomil._ ]]

[[ _Don't say that, dear,_ ]] chided Mari. [[ _We now know that it was Shivariel who sabotaged_ Blue's _drive, and that_ she _is responsible for those deaths, not you. You've carried that guilt for too many years. Please, don't blame yourself. ...Also remember that incident is what set us on our path to meet, so even it did have some good effects._ ]]

Ekaril thanked her and promised to try not to be so hard on herself. Sharing Mari's head did make it easier for them to reassure each other.

Mari'il reached the buoy and tread water next to it for a bit, then floated up out of the water to sit next to the framework supporting the navigational beacon. It was good practice for her to get up this way rather than by climbing.

After sitting here for a bit, Mari'il decided to head back after diving down to investigate the buoy's mooring. Standing up, she again leapt up and dove into the sea and swam down along the anchoring chain. Her gravity control allowed her to increase her weight this time, helping her to dive easier and deeper. Mari'il found a conch shell on the sea-floor here and is able to pick it up.

[[ _At least this time it wasn't guarded by a moray eel,_ ]] commented Ekaril, referring back to the shell she picked up at Funatsumaru's for Mari, but which she ended up giving to Tsubael.

Mari had to smile at the memory and reassured Ekaril that she doesn't at all mind her giving the shell to Tsubael. [[ _You were able to make Tsubael very happy with that, and I have the knowledge of what you did for me. That's worth more than any shell._ ]]

Mari'il surfaced with the shell in hand. Taking a look, she found that it was still inhabited, unlike Tsubael's, which had presumably just fed the moray. Not wanting to harm even this small creature, she dropped it back into the water to take up its life among the anchoring rocks once more, then swam back to the pier where she again practiced floating up out of the water to sit on the pier's edge.

As Mari'il sat there, she mused on how swimming with her new nanomachines felt different to Mari. In addition to the gravity control the nanomachines offered, they helped store extra oxygen which let her hold her breath longer. They also made that initial dive much easier to do gracefully and let her control her buoyancy so she can easily float or dive as she wishes.

She was able to use some of Ekaril's reflexes, or her memory of those reflexes, and understanding to help control her floating, both in and out of the water. This twining of their subconscious help mesh their minds even more closely, and further solidified Mari'il as her own personality.

ooo OOO ooo

Another day, as Mari'il again walked down the far beach enjoying the solitude away from the crowds near the hotels, one of the terns broke off from the seaside flock, flew up and circled around her. Instinctively, she held out here hands, and the tern came in and landed on them. It looked up at her and spoke. ``Mari'il, this is Loriel. I hope I'm not surprising you too much by using a communications remote like this.''

Mari'il smiled back. ``No, we're actually rather used to it.'' Memory softened and deepened her smile. ``And thank you for choosing a tern as the remote.''

``They're common enough around here, and your log said you might be most used to them in this form.'' The tern looked around, again confirming they were alone. ``I also chose this way to contact you as I believe you still want to avoid Zephrael's attention, and she won't be looking at this communication path. I found she discovered your nanomachine treatments and departure from the hospital. She's making some trouble about them, which makes your being away from Fleet Hospital now more convenient as well.''

``I understand. Thanks. Do you have any other news?''

``I've got a couple things. First, I was wondering if you might be ready for Ariel and Raphael to come out and visit you. They don't want to intrude upon your private time, but do want to make sure you're all right.''

``Yes, please let them know we'd be happy to see them.'' Mari'il paused for a bit, thinking. ``So I should continue to stay? I am enjoying it here.''

``That would be good. It might also help to extend your stay for a bit. Anyway, I'll ask Ariel and Raphael to meet you at the hotel.''

``Thanks. That'll be fine. You said, `a couple' of things...''

``Yes, this second is somewhat related. I was wondering if I might interest you in a job here at Admiralty House? I found an opening in the Bureau of Ships. It's not really a commander's assignment, more of an administrative position. I don't want to offend you by this `low ranking' position, but since we were talking about what you might do...''

``That sounds interesting.'' replied a curious Mari'il. ``What would I be doing? And just as importantly, how do we handle Mari'il not having a service record and clearances?'' [[ _Ekaril, I think you'll be doing most all of this job. I hope I won't get in your way._ ]]

[[ _Don't worry. I know you can help me with whatever it is. Let's do this_ together. ]]

``For your second question,'' answered Loriel, ``if you're interested I think we can work something out, but I'll need to look deeper into exactly how to set up your records. The position I found is coordinating several projects in the Bureau of Ships. Tadael was impressed by your insights into the experimental ship types sent on the Forime Expedition and asked if you could join her department. This job isn't going to have anything like the challenge and responsibility of an independent command like you had, Ekaril. On the other hand, having less responsibility also means your application won't be scrutinized quite as closely. It's also a desk job that would be typical for someone just discharged from the Hospital here.'' The tern paused and peered intently at Mari'il. ``And I'll also keep my eyes open for any other positions which open up.''

``If you would, please look into how we could work those records...''

``Certainly.''

``One other question I have is how Zephrael might affect this. Would I have to work with or near her?''

``No, not at all. I checked on that before even suggesting this. I promised to try to keep her away form you.'' The tern bobbed its head in emphasis. ``And I intend to. While she is doing some research related with the Fleet, it's with an entirely different bureau. Your bureau deals with Fleet sponsored equipment development, whereas Zephrael is just getting some Fleet assistance with her independent medical research.''

``That sounds `safe enough.' Thanks.'' She thought for a moment. ``It sounds like there's not a big rush with this, but I'd appreciate it if you could start working on what's needed so I could qualify for the job. Would it be possible for you to send the rest of the information on this, including what you find out later, out with Ariel and Raphael?''

``Sure. I'll do that. That will also let you look over it in detail at your leisure before making a final decision.''

After confirming a few more details they said goodbye, Mari'il held up her hands and the tern spread it's wings and took off, circling her once before heading off down the coast on strong wings. She watched it go, hoping that Loriel's job will work out as that would mean she would no longer have to rely on the generosity of Fleet Medical care.

ooo OOO ooo

The next day Ariel and Raphael arrived at Lover's Bay Hotel. Mari'il met them in the lobby, and they moved to a table on the hotel balcony overlooking the bay where they could talk.

``This really is a nice place to be,'' began Ariel, ``I can see why you wanted to come here. ...beyond the name, of course,'' she added with a smile.

This brought a blush to Mari'il's cheeks, but she agreed that it was a lovely spot.

``I did have a couple reasons to come and see you, beyond making you blush,'' continued Ariel with a laugh. ``First, I wanted to make sure that you're still doing all right. Loriel said you sounded fine, but I wanted to see for myself, as did Raphael.'' She inclined her head toward the nurse who smiled and nodded. ``We also wondered if this might be a good time to start talking about where you might go next. I'm guessing that you don't want to spend the rest of your life in the Fleet Hospital. Now that you're practically done with treatments, you should be able to move out and function normally in society. I'd still like it if you could come in for some periodic tests to make sure things continue to go well, but I don't think you'll object to getting farther away from Zephrael, especially with the new ruckus she's been causing.''

Mari'il winced at the reminder of Zephrael, then smiled and agreed. ``You're right. While I've spent some enjoyable times there with the two of you, but it still is a hospital. And I have to admit that not all memories of that room have been good.'' She winced again, remembering Zephrael's humiliating treatment. ``Of course, where else to go is the question, isn't it. I assume you have an idea.''

Raphael smiled and leaned forward. ``Yes, you could say that. I just found that my next-door neighbor will be moving out in a week or two. That means the apartment will be available, so I wondered if you might be interested in it.'' She looked down, hesitant. ``I understand if you might not want to. After all, I wasn't as polite to you as I should have been at first. And maybe there's somewhere else you already have in mind, but...'' She trailed off and continued in a hushed tone, ``I'd like to have you as a friend and would love you as a neighbor as well.''

``Thank you, Raphael. I'm really glad to have found a friend in you, too.'' Raphael blushed at this. Mari'il looked over at Ariel. ``But I do have a few questions. First, will I be able to afford this? Did Admiral Loriel tell you she's trying to find a job for me? I wonder if that would be sufficient to pay for this apartment.''

``I would think so,'' replied Ariel. ``She did tell us about that, and here is something she asked us to bring to you.'' She pushed a data-chip across the table to Mari'il.

``Thank you, Ariel.'' Turning her head, she continued, ``Also, Raphael, where do you live? This sounds interesting, but I hope you'll forgive my curiosity. What's this apartment like?''

Raphael took out a small recorder and set it on the table. She turned it on and indicated a spot on the map it displayed. ``Here's where it is. You should even be able to see the bay from your window; I can. And this is what my apartment looks like.'' She touched a couple buttons switching the image from the map to pictures of an apartment interior. ``It should be similar to the one we're talking about for you. You can see they're not really large, but it would offer you a place of your own that's larger than your current hospital room. I also like the neighborhood, but I don't have pictures of that. Of course, you're welcome to come visit to see what things are like.''

``Oh Raphael, Ariel,'' said Mari'il. ``this is certainly a surprise. I would like to move out of the hospital, and this looks good. And having a friend next door who can show me around the neighborhood will be terrific. But, what do I do? I'm not too familiar with this as Ekaril only lived in Fleet housing after leaving home.''

``Well, if you'd like,'' replied Ariel, ``we can look into the details for renting the apartment and even start arranging things for you. Of course, we wouldn't commit you to anything without checking with you first, and we'll also let you know whatever we find out.''

``Thank you,'' replied Mari'il. ``Please do.'' She grinned. ``And you probably have a much better idea of when I'll be able to leave the hospital than I do.''

All three shared a laugh at this.

ooo OOO ooo

That after lunch together on the balcony Mari'il invited Ariel and Raphael to come out and enjoy sunning and swimming at the beach.

They agreed that would be fun. ``You were right, Raphael,'' Ariel admitted, laughing. ``I'm glad you talked me into bringing my swimsuit along too.''

The others joined Ariel in her laughter and Mari'il added, ``Then come on up to my room and we can change.''

While floating off the ground to ease changing into her swimsuit, Mari'il commented, ``This makes changing so much easier. I remember hopping around on one foot to trying to keep my balance while pulling on my other sock in the rush to get ready for school.''

``That would be awkward,'' Raphael agreed as they join her in laughing that the memory.

``Normally,'' explains Mari'il, ``I sat down to put on my socks, but of course when I was in a hurry, trying to do too much at once...''

[[ _True,_ ]] comments Ekaril. [[ _I had to learn a whole new set of habits as Hagino._ ]]

Ariel also agreed that sounded awkward, and they all shared reminiscences of their school days.

.

After changing into their beach-wear, the three stroll down the beach and stop at the swimming pier. ``Shall we go for a swim,'' Raphael suggested.

The others agreed, and they all walked out to the end of the pier.

``Let's race out to that buoy,'' suggested Mari'il, pointing to the same one she swam to earlier.

Ariel hesitated, but agreed to go along after Raphael did. Seeing her reluctance, Raphael asked her to call the start after they line up on the end of the pier.

``Ready. Set. Go!'' Ariel called out, and the three women sprang from the edge, dove into the water, and swam for the buoy as fast as they could.

Mari'il managed to tag the buoy moments after Raphael. They then both turned to see Ariel come up behind them and arrive, a distant third in the race.

The three floated next to the buoy. ``Sorry,'' said Ariel, after catching her breath. ``I'm not very good at swimming.''

``You're still better than I was back on Forime,'' said Mari'il, laughing. ``Ekaril taught me a lot, and the nanomachines also help.''

``Then she has taught you well,'' answered Ariel. ``And it looks like you've really improved your fine control over your nanomachines too.'' She winked at Mari'il who blushed, remembering their experience the first time she tried using them. ``Would you mind trying a few things to show me?''

``Sure. What should I do?''

Ariel floated up out of the water and reached out. ``Here, take my hand.'' As Mari'il followed her up, Ariel dodged around for a bit before letting her grab hold. ``Now, hold on and pull me under water.'' When Mari'il did, she resisted, seeing how hard she could pull. They did the same again, except with Mari'il pulling up. When Ariel suddenly let go, Mari'il was able to react before she flew up too far above the water.

Raphael smiled and nodded in appreciation of Mari'il's progress, and Ariel congratulated her on how far she's come. ``It looks like you're adapting very well to the nanomachines. Given that, you're likely to get the benefits we weren't sure about like a longer lifespan.''

.

The three spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach and playing in the water. ``After all,'' said Mari'il, ``just because you came here because of work doesn't mean that you can't have fun as well.''

The other two agreed and joined in her laughter.


	9. Chapter 9: Starting Out Afresh

**Author's Note:**  
To all of you who read and review this story, thank you. I appreciate every reader, but especially treasure those of you who do leave me words of review let me know that I really am reaching you. I appreciate that, and it is what keeps me going. Please keep this up. It's the only way I have to see how my writing comes across to you, and I find that vital, both for motivation and for learning to improve as a writer. I really appreciate your comments and questions.

This chapter begins the second phase of Mari'il's life on Arume. I hope you will find her adventures here engaging, and that they remain true to her character and the world.

.

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 9**

**Starting Out Afresh**

* * *

Mari'il extended her stay at the Lover's Bay hotel after Ariel and Raphael headed back home. During this time she reviewed the data-chip Loriel sent out with Ariel. She also worked together with her applying for the position she found, and frequently talked with Raphael who helped arrange for Mari'il to rent the apartment next to hers. Raphael was a bit hesitant to ask Loriel for help, but after some reassurance from Mari'il and Ariel, the two ended up working together on the apartment. Loriel was able to give her crucial help with the business portions of the arrangements.

.

On returning to town, Mari'il headed straight to her appointment with Loriel in her office. The two had pretty much finished working through the bureaucratic minutiae of Mari'il's records, clearance, and other details for her new job when a hesitant knock on the door interrupted them.

``Her timing's just about right,'' commented Loriel, then she answered, ``Please come in.''

The door opened to reveal a nervous Raphael. ``Excuse me.''

``Come on in, pull up a chair and make yourself at home,'' answered Loriel. She then explained to Mari'il, ``I invited Raphael here so we could take care of the apartment matters as well.'' She turned back to Raphael. ``Thank you for your help with this. Please, relax.'' She smiled at Mari'il, continuing, ``I think Raphael is still a little nervous around high-ranking military, but she'll get over that. You do seem to have a talent for picking good friends.''

Mari'il laughed at this, denying she had any special skill, but admitting that she had made some very good and dear friends since arriving back on Arume.

Raphael brought up the indicated chair and joined the group around Loriel's desk. ``Loriel has helped so much in getting you this apartment,'' she explained. ``I don't think I could have arranged this without her vouching for you. I never thought about it before, but an official word that `Mari'il will be arriving next week, and we can't tell you why' from Fleet opened all the doors. After that, the apartment manager was happy to let me make any necessary the arrangements.'' Both Loriel and Mari'il smiled in gratitude for her initiative and help. ``Unfortunately, I just found out that you won't be able to move into the apartment for several more days. It seems that the previous tenant took longer to move out, so it'll be a little before we can fix it up nicely for you.''

``Oh,'' said Mari'il. ``That's a complication I hadn't expected.''

``I'm sorry—''

``Don't be sorry, Raphael,'' said Loriel, cutting her off. ``You couldn't have predicted that. We just have to figure out what to do now.'' She looked over at Mari'il. ``Given the way Zephrael's been acting since she discovered your nanomachine treatments, I'm not sure you want to go back to staying in your hospital room, even for these couple of days.'' She turned to the wall to her left, ``Oriol, are there any free rooms in temporary officer's quarters?'' When the computer said there were none, she mused, ``Or maybe another hotel...''

``Mari'il, if you'd like...'' Raphael ventured hesitantly. ``If you'd like, you could come stay with me until you're apartment's ready.''

``Would that really be all right?'' asked Mari'il. ``If you're sure, I'd like to. But I don't want to make any more trouble for you, though.''

``Yes, of course you can stay,'' Raphael answered, looking at Mari'il, her tentatively hopeful expression turning happier. ``I'd love to have you.''

A smile grew on Loriel's face as she looked from one to the other. ``If that's agreeable to both of you, it would certainly make things easier.'' When they both agreed, she ordered, ``Oriol, cancel the last query.'' She turned back to them and smiled. ``Well, now that that's settled, let's see if we can handle the rest of the official bother. Then you two can take care of whatever personal arrangements you want.''

ooo OOO ooo

Raphael took Mari'il over to her apartment next. ``We can pick up a couple bags here to help move your things,'' she explained.

``That'd be great,'' Mari'il agreed. ``Also, I'd like to see your place in person. The pictures you showed me made me want to even more. It looked so nice.''

``Oh, Mari'il,'' she replied with a peal of laughter. ``You're such a good flatterer.''

Mari'il blushed. She hadn't intended it as flattery, she merely spoke the truth.

They arrived at Raphael's apartment where the skimmer let them off just down the long porch from her door on the eighth story. Raphael headed toward her door. As they passed another door on the way Raphael pointed out that it soon would be Mari'il's.

``Here we are,'' declared Raphael, stopping at the next door.

Mari'il looked around. ``The inland side here has a nice view too.'' She gestured toward the edge of the long porch. ``On Forime, they would definitely have a railing there to keep people from falling off. I guess that's not so important here where you can float back up if you do slip.''

They both giggled. ``Which is another reason I'm glad you have all that practice your nanomachines,'' added Raphael. She turned back, opened her door and entered another command there. ``Mari'il, if you'd enter your hand-print here, the apartment will then let you enter on you're own.''

``Thank you,'' replied Mari'il, putting her hand on the door pad as instructed. ``I appreciate your trusting me with your place like this.''

``Welcome to my little apartment,'' said Raphael as they entered.

``Not exactly little,'' corrected Mari'il, looking around. ``You should see some of the really small places back on Forime.''

Opposite the entry was a large glass door opening onto a balcony which overlooked the bay next to the Feet harbor where Mari'il first arrived. A sofa and comfortable chair made a nice grouping where you could relax and view the ocean while still indoors. Off to the side was a small table with a couple chairs and easy access to the apartment's kitchen. Mari'il also noticed a very pleasant lack of piping, cables, and machines common in Arume laboratories and hospital rooms.

``I'll bet it's lovely to sit there and watch the sun rise over breakfast,'' commented Mari'il.

Raphael agreed that it indeed was. ``We can do that tomorrow, if you'd like.''

Mari'il happily agreed that she would.

Instead of the standard lockers aboard ship or at Fleet Hospital, Raphael's apartment had a couple closets and some cabinets for storage. Raphael took a couple bags from one of these. ``Do you think these will be big enough to hold all of your things?''

``Sure. You know I don't have that much.''

Raphael invited Mari'il to look around the place while she sent a message to Ariel explaining the change in Mari'il's housing arrangements and telling her they were coming to pick up her things from the Hospital. Mari'il did, observing that Raphael had artistically decorated her place with a few tastefully chosen images and objects which complemented the scene out the window rather than competing with the natural splendor of the bay.

ooo OOO ooo

The two arrived at Mari'il's old room there carrying the bags for her things. ``You know,'' remarked Mari'il. ``I'm going to be happy to be out of here, but I'm also going to miss this room a bit.''

``I can see how that would be. I'm sure this room does hold memories for you: both good and bad.'' She set the bags down on the bed. ``Is there anything I can do to help?''

``If you wouldn't mind,'' said Mari'il, looking up from the locker she was opening and gesturing to another. ``All my clothes are in there, and...''

``Sure!'' Raphael took one of the bags and headed toward the indicated locker. She opened it and looked inside.

``Did you bring all your uniforms with you to Lover's Bay?''

``No, just one uniform. Why?''

``Because I don't see any in this locker.''

Mari'il froze. [[ _You don't think that..._ ]] She immediately turned and opened the locker with Ariel's secure box. ``Raphael, could you come take a look at this?'' She came over. ``Do you think this looks like someone tried to get into this box for my things?''

Raphael took a second, closer look, and answered, ``I certainly think so.'' They looked at each other, a shared understanding growing in their eyes. ``You don't think that she...''

``Unfortunately, that's exactly what I think.''

``Oh Mari'il.'' Raphael moved to give her a reassuring hug.

``Wait,'' Mari'il said, stopping herself as she reached for the box. ``Let's save some images of this before we disturb things.''

They did so and then finished packing up the rest of Mari'il's things checking to see if anything else was missing and making sure that they left nothing behind. In addition to her uniform, they found a few other minor items missing, and also further evidence that someone had rifled through her things. Thankfully, the locks on Ariel's box had defeated any attempts to open it, and Mari'il's precious mementos from Earth were all still safely stored inside.

``It's too bad about your missing uniforms.'' Raphael tried to cheer her up. ``But at least it was only clothing. Now that you've got a job, we can go shopping for some replacements. ...Well, I don't know where to get uniforms, but I'd be happy to take you to find some ordinary clothes.''

Mari'il was cheered as much by her trying as by the actual suggestion and agreed to go shopping with her again someday. ``Well,'' Mari'il concluded when they'd finished packing her things, ``this makes one more reason I won't be sad to leave here.''

``Then shall we?'' asked Raphael, picking up a bag and gesturing toward the door.

``Sure.''

.

Mari'il and Raphael headed out of the room carrying her bags. They were stopped at the end of the corridor by Zephrael accompanied by two of her assistants.

``Where do you think you're going, Forime?'' demanded Zephrael. ``I haven't authorized your departure.''

Mari'il's blood ran cold. She felt Raphael draw close to her, though she couldn't say whether this was to give or get reassurance.

``And why would we even need your approval?'' asked Mari'il in return. Courage flowed up from somewhere and her voice rang once more with the authority of a starship commander. Maybe Ekaril was defending Mari; maybe Mari was defending Ekaril; or maybe they were both defending their friend Raphael.

Zephrael's eyes narrowed, while her assistants' eyes grew wide: they had never imagined anyone would stand up to their boss, much less speak to her in that tone of voice. ``You do know a patient has to be released from the hospital by her doctor,'' she explained, as if to a simpleton.

``And...'' Mari'il prompted, in the tone of a commander prompting a slow subordinate to complete an insufficient and dubious explanation.

``...And she has that permission.''

Shock flashed across Zephrael's features and she turned to face this new speaker. Her expression hardened when she found herself facing Ariel.

``And why might you say that?'' she asked.

``Because, if you'd bothered to check,'' answered Ariel, ``she already _has_ that permission. It's on file. Here, I brought it along to refresh your memory.'' She held out a recorder to Zephrael and activated it, displaying the permission form in question, fully filled out and in proper order.

Zephrael looked over this and realized there was nothing she could do against it. ``Come,'' she ordered her assistants, turned and stalked off down the corridor. Mari'il was sure she used her gravity-control to heighten the impact of her footsteps. Floating simply couldn't produce such an emotionally satisfying and expressive sound as stomping off.

.

``Thank you,'' said Mari'il, turning to Ariel. ``I really appreciate your assistance there. Once again, you've saved me.''

``You're welcome. But I'm not sure you really needed it. You seemed to be holding your own pretty well when I came up.''

``You knew to plan ahead and bring the right weapon to the battle,'' countered Mari'il. Her confident expression dissolved. ``And I was scared.''

Ariel laid a gentle hand on her arm in comfort. That did bring a wan smile of gratitude back to Mari'il's face. The two looked at each other for a moment, their glance finishing the communication.

``She'll never forget this, you know,'' commented Raphael. ``And she won't forgive us either—not that she was ever inclined to do so.''

``Probably,'' answered Ariel. ``But let's not borrow tomorrow's trouble today. And Raphael, thank _you_ for telling me you were coming here to pick up Mari'il's things. I came over to help, but I was expecting that would be packing or carrying or the like.'' She laughed at the form her help had turned into.

``Why don't we go ahead and leave,'' suggested Mari'il. ``I'd hate to find that Zephrael figured out some other way to keep me here.'' She laughed nervously. ``But I'd also like to keep talking. Are you two doing anything for dinner?''

None of them had other plans, so they agreed to meet at Sabrael's in an hour. Mari'il and Raphael continued their journey back to her apartment first, while Ariel stopped back by her office to finish a last couple things before leaving for the day.

ooo OOO ooo

Raphael took Mari'il back to her apartment after their impromptu dinner with Ariel celebrating Mari'il's escape from Zephrael and departure from the Hospital. When they got there, Raphael insisted that Mari'il take her big bed—she would be fine sleeping on the sofa. Mari'il countered that she should sleep on the sofa and Raphael should sleep in her own bed.

``After all, this is _your_ apartment and _your_ bed. And anyway, I'm used to sleeping on small cots that size.''

``But _you're_ the guest here, so...''

Eventually the combination of Mari's stubbornness and Ekaril's command experience won out, and they agreed she would use the sofa. The two were able to share a laugh after this, and there were no hard feelings left over.

Mari'il unpacked enough to take care of her that night, and they were soon ready for bed. Raphael stuck her head out to bid Mari'il ``good night'' before shutting the door. Mari'il tucked herself in on the sofa, turned out the light and dropped off to sleep herself.

.

A scream woke Mari'il. It didn't take long for her to recall why she was asleep on Raphael's sofa, nor to figure out that the scream was not her own. She got up and padded over to Raphael's bedroom door. Listening there, she heard no further screams, but thought she could hear a quiet sobbing.

She knocked lightly. ``Raphael, are you all right?''

Raphael gulped once and ordered the door open, inviting Mari'il in.

She was curled up in a tight ball on her bed, hugging the blankets, shaking.

Mari'il came over, sat down on the edge of the bed, gently put her hand on Raphael's shoulder, and asked, ``Are you all right, Raphael?''

Mari'il continued rubbing Raphael's shoulder and murmuring comforting words to her. Eventually Raphael stopped shaking, uncurled a little and looked up at Mari'il, fear still etched on her face.

``I... I...'' Raphael swallowed and tried again. ``I was having a nightmare.''

``Would telling me about it help? Is there anything else I can do?''

``I... I think... maybe.'' Raphael uncurled a little more and scooted over closer to Mari'il.

``Take your time. I'm here for you.'' Mari'il reassured her. ``It'll be all right.''

Raphael pulled her blankets with her and leaned up against Mari'il, who put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She took a deep breath and began, ``It was about this afternoon, about Zephrael.'' She went on to explain that Zephrael was threatening both her and Mari'il in the dream: threatening to do all sorts of unspeakable experiments on them, and that this was all because they tried to escape.

Mari'il tightened her arm around Raphael. ``I understand.'' She looked down at her with a smile. ``I've had nightmares about Zephrael too.''

Raphael sniffed. ``Really?''

``Yes, really. They were terrible dreams, but they were still only dreams. Look, we've got Loriel and Ariel on our side, and they'll protect us. See how much they've done already? Zephrael can't hurt you.''

``But... but they were protecting you, not me. Now Zephrael's going to be after me since I helped you.''

``And both Ariel and Grand Admiral Loriel will now protect you as well.''

``You're sure?''

``I'm sure. You can trust them. You can trust me.''

``Thank you.'' Raphael reached up and grasped Mari'il's hand that was holding her. ``I'm sorry I woke you up.''

``That's all right,'' said Mari'il. She daubed at Raphael's tears with a fold of her blanket. ``This is what friends are for.''

They sat there, holding each other in quiet reassurance for a while.

Mari'il recalled some of her nightmares, and realized what a help Mari and Ekaril had been to each other in them. [[ _Ekaril, dear, do you think it would help if... but I don't want to make you jealous..._ ]]

[[ _Yes I think it might help._ ]] Ekaril immediately understood the direction of Mari's thoughts. [[ _And no, I won't be jealous of Raphael ...See._ ]] And she let Mari see what she was thinking and how she wouldn't be.

Having settled this within herself, Mari'il looked back at Raphael and tenderly wiped another tear off her cheek, this time with her finger. ``Raphael, would you sleep better if I stayed here with you?''

Raphael looked up. Her expression of hope and relief and need answered Mari'il's question before her brief nod confirmed her answer.

Mari'il smiled. ``That way, you'll know you're not alone. You'll know in here,'' she put her fingers on Raphael's heart, ``that you have friends who will protect you.''

``Thank you,'' said Raphael, and she pulled Mari'il into a hug and buried her face in her neck.

Mari'il returned her hug, and they just held each other like this for a while. ``Raphael,'' Mari'il finally said, ``maybe we should straighten out the covers and try to go to sleep again.''

``Uh huh,'' Raphael mumbled into her neck, nodding.

They straightened out the blankets once more and lay down under them.

``Um... Mari'il, could you... would you mind... could you keep on holding me?'' asked Raphael, hesitantly, ``You really do make me feel safe and protected.''

``Of course,'' answered Mari'il, putting her arms around Raphael who snuggled close for comfort. ``This is what friends are for,'' she whispered into her ear.

The lights dimmed, and Raphael soon relaxed in this warm, protective, embrace.

[[ _Thank you,_ ]] said Mari, silently. [[ _I'm glad we can help her._ ]]

[[ _So am I,_ ]] answered Ekaril. [[ _and it feels really good to be able to help her like this. Thank you._ ]]

And with that, they drifted off into a sleep, none of them troubled by dreams of fear or dread any longer.


	10. Chapter 10: A New Place

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 10**

**A New Place**

* * *

On the first day of her new job, Mari'il got a ride to Admiralty House from Raphael who dropped her off on her own way to work. Mari'il was thankful for the company, as it helped distract her from her nervousness about starting her new job. Thankfully she knew the way to Master Commander Tadael's office, and that was where she was supposed to report.

``Good Luck on your first day,'' Raphael wished her before heading off to her own job.

.

Tadael's aide ushered Mari'il into her office. ``Welcome Mari'il,'' said Tadael, getting up to greet her. ``It's good to see you again.'' She smiled and extended her hand. ``And I'm glad to have you joining our team here at 'Ships.''

Mari'il returned the proffered handshake, thanking Tadael for the job and her recommendation.

After helping Mari'il through all the necessary bureaucracy needed when starting a job, Tadael showed Mari'il her new office. As an office it was unexceptional, having a standard desk, chairs and some lockers for storage, but it was Mari'il's _own._ It felt good to have someplace she could feel a little proprietary about after all this time.

``And now that I've shown you your office, let me immediately drag you away and introduce you to Neniel. You'll be working most closely with her, and she can give you all the details of what you'll be doing.''

``Sure.'' Mari'il laughed. ``I doubt this office will run away while we're gone.''

.

Neniel wore her silver hair in a ponytail and tended to float more than stand, perhaps because it made her shorter-than-average height not matter. A smile snuck out from her normally schooled expression when Tadael introduced Mari'il as the new team member who would be working with her. She remembered Mari'il from reading her short report on _Blue's_ performance on the mission to Forime.

``Thank you for those insights,'' said Neniel. ``I'm glad to hear _Blue_ did so well under those tough conditions.''

``She really did,'' Mari'il agreed.

Tadael left Mari'il in Neniel's care, as she unfortunately had to rush off to yet another meeting. Neniel and Mari'il spent the rest of the morning going over the details of her job and how 'Ships did things internally, continuing their discussion over a shared lunch. Afterwards, Mari'il retired to her office with a long reading list and a promise to talk with Neniel again tomorrow, probably with a list of questions in return.

She spent the next several days at work like this, her time divided among reading up on what she needed to know, plying Neniel with questions, and occasionally talking with Tadael and other members of the team at 'Ships.

.

Mari'il's new job kept her fully occupied, and she often stayed into the evening. However, she was able to make some time to go shopping with Raphael as she had agreed to. They picked out a couple outfits to replace those Zephrael had apparently taken. With those Mari'il would have a little bit of variety to wear when she was out of uniform, though Raphael extracted a promise from her that they would go shopping again later to get her more.

After a pause for a snack and a rest, they went to look for some items for Mari'il's apartment. Mari'il selected a big comfortable chair similar to the one Raphael had. ``This would be good to just lounge around in.'' They arranged to have it delivered, then continued looking at a few other things. Raphael went over a bunch of color samples with her, talking about colors and schemes and matching and Mari'il's preferences, both individually and in combinations.

Mari'il was starting to get tired as this followed a long day at work, and she was expecting more of the same tomorrow. Finally she looked up at Raphael. ``Why don't you just go ahead and pick out things like that for me. I like what you've done with your place, and I'm getting sleepy.'' She yawned. ``Could we call it a night?''

Raphael agreed to, but on the way home she double checked with Mari'il that it _really_ was all right with to let her make these choices for the new apartment. After all, it was Mari'il who would be living there, not her. Mari'il said that yes, she was OK with it. And she told Raphael the same then next morning over breakfast when she asked again.

.

At the end of another particularly stressful day, Ekaril despaired of learning enough to be qualified for this job.

[[ _Don't worry so much,_ ]] Mari consoled her. [[ _Have you noticed how Neniel's responses to your questions have changed? At first she was just patient with us. Now I can see a light in her eyes when you ask, and she seems to ask you more in return. This is all new to me, but it seems like she's enjoying your questions now and finding them useful in her own job._ ]]

[[ _Do you really think so?_ ]] asked Ekaril. [[ _...no, I should trust you on this, you've always been better with feelings than I have._ ]]

[[ _Thank you. You actually do pretty well with feelings yourself. Just don't doubt yourself so strongly. Also I can see why you were the best in school, even when you had to learn our culture and history from scratch._ ]]

[[ _But this isn't just schoolwork._ ]]

[[ _True, but you're doing just as well at it._ ]]

Mari'il blushed at this complement and feelings that went along with it.

ooo OOO ooo

After a few days at her new job Mari'il was beginning to make a dent in her reading list and was starting to get a feel for how things ran at 'Ships. She had also met most of the rest of the team, so Tadael declared it was time for a team party to welcome here. Almost the whole team took off early and headed to one of the local eating and drinking establishments.

Unlike Sabrael's or Bayside Seafood, this place catered to larger parties. The team was given a room to themselves with one table big enough to seat them all comfortably but cozy enough they could all easily talk. Food and drinks soon started arriving at the table, and Mari'il was relieved to find this a casual place, not one fancy ones which used real Arume as waiters. It was a place to relax and enjoy themselves. The food was good: more of a succession of small snacks to munch on while talking than a full meal which would have demanded its own attention and detracted from the conversation.

And there was plenty of conversation. The team let down their barriers of formality from work and actually talked about all sorts of interests they had. Perhaps the alcohol flowing through their drinks helped. Mari'il felt comforted by the camaraderie of the team and pleased to be taken up into it. While she had learned to put names with most of the faces, it was here that she began to really know the rest of her team as people.

Sahaquiel still retained her dignity, but Mari'il found her also interested in collecting fine art when she wasn't partaking of her main hobby of flying. She truly loved being up in the sky.

Iruel had a wonderful sense of humor and did a good job of making a fun mood at the party. Mari'il would ever guessed this from her exacting work on the detailed ship specifications.

Ementaal carried her creative skills home with her to her kitchen. Others who had eaten the results proclaimed them excellent, and she was persuaded to bring a cake for Mari'il's one-month anniversary. Mari'il didn't want to make a big deal of it, but agreed when she found this was really an excuse for them all to share some of Ementaal's baking.

Neniel was less of an unknown that her other teammates, but Mari'il found out that she was also an amateur historian studying ship designs and how they evolved over time. When she wasn't doing this—Mari'il teased her about needing _some_ break from thinking of ships—she could often be found in the handball courts. Mari'il thought that the Arume ability to float had produced quite a different twist to this basic game of hitting a ball around than humans had.

Anafiel, Tadael's aide, also didn't surprise Mari'il with her outside interests. She did learn that the flowers that always graced Anafiel's and Tadael's desks came from her own personal garden at home. She loved working in her garden, making things grow as well as talking about it. And her interest and knowledge of tea also kept the department properly provisioned with that. As good as she kept the department's selection, it was dwarfed by the one she had at home.

Mishel was mostly quiet, but she did try to chat with the others. It was obvious that part of her head was still wound around the engines and Emil-Force drive components back at her desk. She had a real passion and knowledge for them. Mari'il appreciated her effort to break away from work and socialize, even if it wasn't her strong suit.

Karol showed up late, but brought her partner Rizal with her. Mari'il smiled at the cute a couple they made. Right now their main interest was each other, which Mari'il wouldn't have guessed from Karol's focus at work. The only hint was the picture of Rizal she kept in her office. They were setting up their first apartment together for just the two of them. Mari'il had fun comparing notes with them on their respective new places.

Mari'il even found that Tadael enjoyed nature and bird-watching as a hobby. This had crossed over to her work where she was responsible for much of the early work on surveillance remotes. It was probably her love of birds, and especially terns, which pushed the remotes toward that form, though the ease and efficiency with which terns flew and maneuvered certainly had an influence too. ``Thank you for your work on them,'' Mari'il told her. ``I found those surveillance remotes very helpful on Forime, even vital.'' Tadael and Mari'il smiled at each other, both in gratitude, but also showing a more complete knowledge than the rest of the team of exactly how these remotes had been useful on Forime.

The party went on late into the night. Everyone was having a good time, and by the end Mari'il truly felt she was part of the team. She was included in—and the target of—Iruel's jokes, just like everyone else. Sahaquiel offered to take her up flying. Ementaal was happy to make the cake for her, and everyone else made her feel at home as well. One glance found Tadael in an unguarded moment, smiling over her whole team and how they had come together.

.

Mari'il came home late that night, being careful not to wake up Raphael, and collapsed onto her place on the the sofa. The party had been long, but there was no way she would have left early. She had been having too much fun, and the newly made friendships on her team were something to be treasured and enjoyed. Still, tomorrow was a work day and Mari'il knew there was a lot for her to do. Plus, she was tired now. She hoped the night would grant her enough sleep to find her refreshed and ready tomorrow. She turned off the lights and soon found solace in the comfort of the cushions and blankets ...and in pleasant dreams.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il's new apartment was finally ready. Raphael accompanied her for her first visit, as she wanted to make sure that everything had been done as she arranged.

They paused in front of the door and Mari'il hesitantly entered the security code she'd been given on the door pad. It recognized her and the door slid open, and she finished the setup and entered her hand-print for easy entry. She then turned to Raphael. ``Would you enter your hand-print too.'' She blushed. ``I'd feel better if I knew a trusted friend could also get in.''

``I... um... thank you...'' Raphael blushed as well, putting her hand on the door pad as instructed.

The two then entered the apartment. It had less furniture than Raphael's and only a fraction of her decoration, but was not entirely bare. The table and chairs were accented by a few landscape images, which Raphael hastened to point out Mari'il could trivially change, and the whole was set off by a luxurious blue carpet.

Mari'il barely moved from the doorway. She just stood there, gazing at this space so carefully prepared for her.

Raphael interrupted her reverie. ``Since you still seem to like walking, we thought to get you something nice for your feet.'' She began to take off her shoes and motioned for Mari'il to do the same. ``Here, feel it for yourself. I hope this is the shade of blue you were hoping for.''

Mari'il took off her shoes and sank into the deep pile of the carpet, wiggling her toes in ecstasy at the luxuriant feel as her smile grew wider. ``Yes. Thank you. In fact this is better than I imagined. I asked for this color because _Blue_ was the name and special color of my ship. She was a good partner. And,'' Mari'il continued with a bit of an accent, ``it also reminds me of Ekaril's eyes.''

Raphael had to smile at the blush this brought to Mari'il's cheeks. She urged Mari'il to have a look around the apartment, to make sure it was all right for her.

Mari'il did, walking around instead of floating so she could continue to enjoy the feel of the carpet. She noticed that the few pieces of furniture were functional, tasteful and well placed, but that there was still room for more. She liked where Raphael had placed the comfortable chair they picked out the evening they went out shopping together.

Her bedroom was arranged in a convenient yet also comfortable fashion. The bedding on the ample round bed was much closer to the high quality of the Lover's Bay Hotel than the Fleet issue she had grown used to. The colors worked together in a calming way that she hadn't guessed when Raphael suggested their possibility. One wall had a picture of a flock of terns in flight.

``I knew they have special meaning for you,'' explained Raphael.

Also, unlike Raphael's, this apartment had a second bedroom, and Raphael had set that up with both a nice desk and a bed so that it could be used either for a guest or as an office.

``You thought of everything,'' Mari'il told her.

Walking back to the main room, Mari'il took closer notice of the landscape images decorating the walls. ``This looks like that spot in the Misty Mountains we talked about being similar to Earth and which we both liked.'' Raphael, blushed at the complement on her care and memory. ``And this one ...You even have an image of sunrise at Lover's Bay Beach. Thank you.''

``I didn't want your new home to just be bare, but I also wanted to give you plenty of opportunity to make this _your_ home, too.''

``You've already made it feel like a home to me. And the care you've put into it makes me never want to leave. Thank you.'' She turned and enveloped Raphael in a tight embrace. ``Thank you.''

After a bit, Mari'il loosened her hug and looked closely at Raphael. ``Thank you again. I... I know that this took more of your time than just the little bits of evening before I got home. ...you took time off of work to do this for me, didn't you?''

``Well.'' Raphael grinned back at her. ``I didn't have any other plans for that time off.'' She gave one of her silver laughs. ``And I really did enjoy doing this ...especially for a friend like you.''

This earned Raphael another tight hug, and when Mari'il's tears of happiness wet her hair this time, neither complained.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il sat down in her comfortable chair and surveyed her new apartment. Raphael had done such a nice job preparing everything. Her artistic touch really showed in how well everything went together and the care with which it was arranged. It felt so relaxing and welcoming. She didn't think she could improve it, but Raphael had been insistent that she change things to be the way she liked it.

She thought and thought. Finally Mari hesitantly pointed out that it might feel nice to have a reminder of Earth somewhere.

[[ _Of course,_ ]] said Ekaril. [[ _And do you think Raphael might have left that spot and that one open just for us to use to do that?_ ]]

After some discussion they agreed that these were perfect spots to display a couple of the pictures they brought from Earth. And a small shelf near the Lover's Bay Beach picture provided just the spot to place a small projector displaying a hologram of her, Raphael and Ariel taken when they came out to visit her there.

[[ _Now,_ ]] Mari'il thought to herself, [[ _this really does feel like home. ...a home just for us._ ]] It was the first place either Mari or Ekaril could really call their own in a very long time. This was far more personally ``hers'' than even her office.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il still visited Ariel regularly after starting her job. Ariel wanted to keep track of Mari'il's nanomachine treatments to make sure no problems cropped up. They also continued looking into things that might help Ariel's research into the Arume population decline, especially any light Mari'il's differences as a Forime could shine on this. In their relationship Ariel was as much friend as physician now. Most of the time they would just meet in Ariel's office; sometimes Raphael joined them. Ariel could do most of the needed tests there, and Mari'il was able to come here from her job or apartment without having to pass anywhere near the hospital wing which Zephrael frequented. Mari'il had been able to successfully avoid seeing her, and everyone thought this was a very good outcome—except possibly for Zephrael, but nobody cared to ask her.

``So, how is your new place working out?'' asked Ariel during one of these visits.

``It's really nice. I think it's the nicest place I've ever lived. Raphael did such a good job of setting it up for me. I hope she knows how much I appreciate it.''

``I think she does.'' Ariel smiled. ``And I'm glad that you like it.''

``I do. With this job, I finally feel independent instead of just relying on other's help. It feels good to have somewhere to call my own. It's completely different from commanding a ship, but I've found rewards in both.'' She paused for a moment. ``And now that I think about it, not seeing Zephrael—and even more, not worrying about having her pop up or interfere unexpectedly—is quite a relief on it's own.''

``It sounds like your job is going all right then too?'' asks Ariel.

``It is,'' Mari'il agreed. ``At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to contribute enough to be worth my pay. I think I might be starting to contribute some now.'' She laughed. ``Yes Mari, you're right. I shouldn't doubt myself like that.''

Ariel nodded, agreeing with Mari. ``Ekaril, you really do have a lot to offer us. If you have trouble believing yourself here, please trust us, your friends.'' She paused to let Mari silently reinforce this, then continued, ``If you don't mind me asking, what is it you do for the Admiralty? ...that is, if you're allowed to say.''

``I work in the Bureau of Ships. We're responsible for new ships and equipment for Fleet.'' Mari'il paused considering, then looked back at Ariel. ``One thing I've done that seems to have been well received is an analysis of the surveillance remotes, including some ideas for how they could be improved. The rest of the team—even Tadael who initially developed them—said they were impressed by the insights there.''

``I'm not surprised,'' commented Ariel. ``After spending that long looking at the world through a surveillance remote, you would get to know them pretty well.''

Mari'il joined her in laughing at this, as they both knew why she knew them. They agreed she probably had better ``inside knowledge'' of the remotes than anyone else.

``They said I had an exceptionally good feel for how they performed,'' she explained, continuing to giggle.

She continued, ``My current projects are a similar analysis of my _Blue_ and helping define the design of the class of ships following her. It seems that Ekaril's experience with command, especially with _Blue,_ is helpful for evaluating new designs. It gives a practical a perspective on how the new features or arrangements might work. No matter how good our computers get in fleshing out the design, there's just no replacing flesh-and-blood brains for creativity and judgment. Our designers and engineers are really good, but most don't have actual operational experience to help with their judgment.'' She laughed. ``Also explaining these things here to Mari also helps clarify them for all of us. And Mari seems to understand how people would feel about things better than Ekaril does.''

[[ _I'm glad I can help, at least a little,_ ]] Mari commented silently.

[[ _You help a lot more than ``just a little,''_ ]] Ekaril corrected her.

Mari'il then continued, ``I guess we're giving Fleet Ekaril's knowledge and intelligence together with Mari's feeling and her fresh set of eyes.'' She looked up at the ceiling for a moment. ``I wonder if Loriel expected this when she first found this job for me?''

``I wouldn't be at all surprised,'' Ariel answered. ``And even if she didn't, I hope that Fleet recognizes what it's got in you: a first-class team for the price of a single person, all in one very attractive package.''

Mari'il blushed deeply at this complement, and it took her a bit before she could even stammer her thanks.


	11. Chapter 11: A Frightening Forecast

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 11**

**A Frightening Forecast**

* * *

One day, Mari'il headed to Ariel's office with more than typical anticipation as Ariel had said they would be meeting another researcher whom she thought Mari'il would want to talk to. She arrived to find this new Arume already seated waiting in Ariel's office.

``Sorry I'm late,'' she apologized to them both.

``Don't worry, Mari'il,'' said Ariel. ``You're right on time.'' She gestured to the newcomer who had risen to greet her. ``Allow me to introduce Abdiel. She and I met while we were both looking into the Arume genome and she's discovered a few things I think you'll also find interesting.''

Abdiel bowed in greeting, as did Mari'il. She wasn't quite as tall as Ariel, and her pale hair was cut in a style that would have been called a bob back on earth. Her expression was one of knowledgeable competence, and while her eyes didn't show the same gentleness as Ariel's—few did—neither did they hold any trace of the scorn that Mari'il had seen in some.

Introductions completed, the three sat back down for a more relaxed discussion. Ariel began. ``I met Abdiel while we were both looking into the genetic aspects of telepathy. She'd left a telltale in that section of the archives asking anyone else who might be investigating the field to contact her for possible collaboration. Thinking of you, I called her to see about her research.'' She paused to find the right words before continuing. ``I know you may not have a good view of Arume telepathy researchers after encountering Zephrael, so I made sure that Abdiel had nothing of her attitude before even mentioning you. And it turns out that attitude relates to some of what Abdiel has to tell us as well.''

Mari'il turned with interest to Abdiel, who continued. ``Thank you for vouching for me Ariel. Mari'il, first let me say that Ariel told me nothing about you other than you'd be interested in what I'd found about telepathy and about Zephrael. She seems rather protective of your privacy, but hinted you might not be enthralled by Zephrael.''

Mari'il laughed. ``True. She really is careful about that, and Zephrael didn't exactly treat me ...with the most kindness and respect I've ever received. And Ariel is right, you have aroused my curiosity.''

``Well, let me start with the subject of Zephrael. I'll reiterate what Ariel said. I don't have any professional connection with her, other than doing research on closely related topics. And with what I've found out about her in the course of my research, I want it to avoid any such connections in the future.'' Mari'il raised an eyebrow in interest at this. ``You see, the area Zephrael is looking most deeply into is the possibility of artificial telepathy for better communication—or so she says—though guessing at her motives it looks like she might be aiming beyond communication to a means to control people. Of late, her research has branched into a new direction: using the equipment she developed to test and strengthen telepathy to actually transfer the consciousness of one Arume into another. She has a prototype set up, but there still seem to be some hiccups in the process, most dealing with the target's consciousness.''

Mari'il sat bolt upright in her chair on hearing this. ``You don't mean... No. Please continue. I shouldn't interrupt.''

``Yes, you're right to be suspicious here. I think you see where this is going. What really prompted me to wonder about her actions is the question of what might happen to those she transferred consciousness into. So I poked around in what she's released about this topic, and what I saw worried me enough to ask for Ariel's opinion too. I guess you won't be surprised to hear that Ariel's judgment on ethical matters is highly respected in medical circles. It seems that Zephrael's process suppresses the target consciousness. However, there are hints that Zephrael is trying to find a way to completely eliminate the target consciousness, not just suppress it, as in her experiments it has often returned and eventually supplanted the transferred consciousness. This worries me, as it seems she's already doing actual experiments and I can't find out on whom. The only reference I was able to find was one note that mentioned she was using `defective' Arume as the target, but I haven't found exactly what she means by that term. Knowing some of her opinions, I'm pretty sure she means something different by `defective' than we would.''

``I agree that she likely is letting her ideology influence her definition of `defective'.'' Ariel gave her a keen glance. ``So does this mean that one of the two people in the transfer would die? It sounds like that's what would happen to the original consciousness when the target supplants it.''

``Yes,'' Abdiel agreed. ``That's the way it seems. I'm trying to find out what happens with the original body, and if there's any consciousness left in it. If there's not, then if the target consciousness supplants the transferred one, that would be their death. Conversely, if it never does, this would be the death of the target consciousness. The data she has seem to indicate that having two consciousnesses in one body is somehow an unstable condition.''

The color drained Mari'il's face hearing this. [[ _Ekaril, dear. If what we have is like that, does that mean I'll someday reject and kill you? There's no way I want that to happen. I'd rather die myself so you could keep living._ ]]

[[ _Oh, Mari._ Please _don't do that. I don't think I could live without you now._ ]]

``Abdiel,'' a shaken Mari'il asked, ``did you find how l... long it took before this rejection happened? Were there any symptoms showing it starting?''

``I'm sorry. I haven't found much more on that, but I will look and let you know what I find. It seems like this really matters to you.'' Abdiel smiled reassuringly, ``From what I've seen, it does not seem a quick process, but I will look into it.''

Ariel reached over and comfortingly took Mari'il's hand. [[ _Mari'il,_ ]] she silently asked through this touch, [[ _I think we can trust Abdiel with the truth. Would you like to tell her?_ ]]

[[ _Go ahead, you start._ ]]

Ariel turned to Abdiel. ``Let me explain why I asked Mari'il to hear about your findings and why they are important to her, that is if it's OK with you Mari'il.'' When Mari'il assented with a nod, she took a breath and began, ``I don't know if you found anything in looking through Zephrael's work about tests she may have done regarding telepathy with Forime.'' Abdiel nodded. ``Well, Mari'il here is the one she tested. Allow me to introduce Commander Ekaril from the Forime expedition and also Wakatake Mari from Forime itself.''

Mari'il bowed and explained, gesturing to her head. ``Yes, there really are two of us in here. We're used to it now, but it did take a while to figure out.''

Abdiel looked at her in surprise. ``Really? That's incredible. I can see why Zephrael would want to do all sorts of measurements and tests on you.'' She turned to Ariel. ``I hope you're not letting her.''

``No, never. With help from Grand Admiral Loriel, we've been able to protect Mari'il.''

This reassurance brought a smile to Abdiel's face. She turned back to Mari'il. ``But if your really are both sharing this body... I guess Zephrael's experiments would be of interest, especially what happens after a transfer.'' She shook her head. ``Would you mind my asking how the two of you ended up sharing one body?''

``No, we don't mind,'' answered Mari'il. ``Do you have time to hear a long story explaining it?''

Abdiel agreed and gestured for her to proceed.

``Let me start this as Ekaril,'' Mari'il began. ``She remembers the beginning.'' She then continued in that slightly different tone of voice telling of her first meeting Mari when she saved her after _Blue's_ drive exploded and of their reunion five years later at Kaihou Academy. Mari and Ekaril then continued their story together, describing their shared dream and other instances of touch telepathy and concluding with their merging and then coming to Arume. ``There's a lot we still don't understand, but we try to accept it and find joy in simply being together.''

[[ _Loriel would be proud how you were able to do that while not disclosing any military secrets,_ ]] Mari commented silently.

``Oh my,'' said Abdiel when Mari'il finished her tale. ``That is quite the adventure the two of you have had. And I do see why this research would really matter to you and why post-transfer instability could really worry you. I promise I'll look deeper into the post-transfer symptoms and prognosis. You deserve to know everything we can find about that. I really hope I find good news for you.''

``Thank you. We really appreciate that.''

``And there is one more reason I asked you here to meet Mari'il,'' added Ariel.

Abdiel looked up. What she'd been told already was sufficient to excite her curiosity, but now Ariel promised more.

``Yes,'' Ariel continued. ``You see, Mari'il has found that sometimes her touch telepathy works with me as well.''

``Really! That's fascinating. Mari'il, are you able to communicate telepathically with anyone else?''

``I'm sorry,'' replied Mari'il. ``So far, I've only been able to talk like this with Ariel ...that is, beyond Mari and Ekaril talking to each other.'' She reached over and touched Abdiel's hand. [[ _Can you hear us now, when we talk like this?_ ]]

After a few moments Abdiel gave no sign of hearing the telepathic query. Mari'il then continued, ``Well, we just tried talking to you that way, and it seems you didn't hear us. We can try again, as this doesn't seem to always work with Ariel, either.''

``Thank you. I'd appreciate that. But even with you and Ariel, having an actual pair who can talk this way could help immeasurably.'' She paused, realizing what she was assuming. ``That is, if you're both willing to help with this. I don't want to presume to much.'' She laughed. ``After all, I don't want to act like Zephrael.''

They assured her that she was not, and they'd be happy to help.

.

On the skimmer ride home Mari'il thought over Abdiel's new revelation. It was disturbing that Zephrael had been monitoring her brain-waves when she was first staying at the Fleet Hospital. She was exceedingly grateful for Abdiel's assurance that it was still impossible to actually ``read minds'' this way. All that could be detected was general mental state: sleeping, waking, concentrating, talking or the like. Still, she felt it a rude invasion of privacy that this was done without even telling her. Both Abdiel and Ariel were equally offended. In fact, this was the most upset she'd ever seen Ariel.

What was more personally disturbing than the invasion of privacy was the possibility Abdiel brought up about two consciousness not being able to stably share a body. She really hoped that didn't apply with Mari and Ekaril. Perhaps their initial telepathic bond would help. It was a slim hope, but they agreed to hope. Abdiel had also promised to find out anything she could on this, so at least they had a helping friend. And it was nice to make a new friend in Abdiel.

Their few close friends were really the only thing Mari or Ekaril missed from earth, and making new friends here was the way to cope with that loss, though they tried not to think of it that much.

ooo OOO ooo

A few days later, Ariel again met with Mari'il and Abdiel in her office.

``I talked with Grand Admiral Loriel this morning,'' Ariel began after they finished their initial pleasantries. ``She was very concerned about what I told her about Zephrael, especially that she might be experimenting on living Arume. She wants to investigate a few things and then talk to us.''

``I'm glad to hear she agrees with our concern,'' said Abdiel. ``Can she actually do anything to help? Her title is Grand Admiral, but I'm not too familiar with military rank, or what influence she might have.''

``Well, she certainly helped me when I came here,'' explained Mari'il. ``And her rank of Grand Admiral is one of the highest ones in our military.'' She took a breath, then continued. ``But, since Zephrael is not actually in the military, merely a scientist working with Fleet Hospital, Loriel can't just issue her orders. On the other hand, it sounds like this transgression may be even worse than the way Zephrael treated me, so maybe she can do more.''

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il sat in the lobby of Admiralty House waiting for Abdiel to arrive. She had offered to meet Abdiel here and show her the rest of the way to Loriel's office. Abdiel had never been here before and was afraid of getting lost in the maze of corridors. Mari'il was again dressed in her Fleet uniform, though since starting her job at 'Ships she no longer wore a commander's cape. Others here were used to seeing her in uniform at her job here, and it felt right to wear it to formally welcome Abdiel on her first visit. She figured Loriel would agree with her reasoning.

Abdiel arrived, right on time and Mari'il headed over to greet her.

``Thank you for meeting me here,'' Abdiel said. ``I will admit to being slightly nervous.''

``Don't worry. Grand Admiral Loriel is actually quite a nice person, though I'll agree that all of the corridors here can be confusing.'' She grinned. ``We have yet to actually lose anyone in them, nor have we ever shot a visitor for ending up in the wrong place.'' They shared a laugh at this. ``But I'm happy to meet you here and be your guide. Shall we go?''

The two headed off down the corridors Mari'il just joked about. They met Ariel in the ante-room of Loriel's office and were immediately ushered in.

``Thank you for coming here and meeting me,'' began Loriel, leading them toward the conversational grouping of overstuffed chairs around a low table near the expansive window rather than the more formal environment of her desk. ``Ariel told me some of what you have uncovered, and I'd like to discuss it further.''

``Of course,'' answered Ariel. ``Allow me to introduce Abdiel. She was the first to uncover this. Abdiel, this is Grand Admiral Loriel.''

``I'm pleased to meet you,'' said Abdiel, bowing to Loriel. ``Thank you for making time to see us.''

The three sat down and Abdiel explained what she had found about Zephrael's experiments with consciousness transfer. Ariel and Mari'il contributed their own observations.

``So you see,'' Ariel said when Abdiel had finished. ``We thought you should know since Zephrael is working at Fleet Hospital and since Mari'il has been affected by her `research'.''

``Thank you,'' replied Loriel, taking in all three of them with her glance. ``You're right, I am very interested in this. When Ariel messaged me about Zephrael, I decided to do a little investigation on my own. I knew that Zephrael was already hostile toward Mari'il, so I had arranged for some tracers on her what she was doing in the Hospital. It seems Zephrael was sharp enough to keep her activities from triggering any automatic alerts. However, looking back and correlating those records with what you've found, I think we may find she isn't quite upholding her half of her research contract.''

``I'm also worried about the direction her research may be headed,'' added Ariel. ``And about how she may be treating experimental subjects.''

``True,'' added Abdiel. ``It looks to me like her real aim is more than just the telepathy for communication that's her stated goal. It looks like she's trying for two other outcomes. First, I've seen hints that she's trying to use her `artificial telepathy' technology to actually control people, not just help them communicate.''

Mari'il nodded, ``Controlling others, even against their own will, fits with some of the philosophies of her teacher Sariel. She claimed that some, like her, were smarter and endowed with better judgment how things should be done, thus they should be made rulers over the rest of us. She couldn't stand our egalitarian society, so anything like this that would help her rule others...''

``I agree,'' Ariel added. ``I've run into that group academically before, and they definitely have some extreme ideas. They usually hide them to fit in better, but...''

``Then there is the other direction I fear she might be heading,'' continued Abdiel. ``More than just communication or control, Zephrael has been experimenting with actually transferring the consciousness of one Arume to another. So you can see why she would be quite interested in Mari'il,'' she concluded, gesturing to her. ``Apparently her measurements of Mari'il convinced her that it was possible.''

``I can see why she was interested,'' replied Loriel, ``and also why she's continued to try to get more data on her.'' She turned to Mari'il. ``I'm sorry you've been subjected to her `data gathering'.''

Abdiel continued, ``One frightening part—beyond the fact that she's even tried these experiments—is that she's working to try to eliminate the target consciousness so that only the transferred one remains.''

Loriel started, and a little surprise showed through even her excellent control over her face. ``That would amount to ...killing the target Arume, wouldn't it.''

``Yes, it would.''

``Then why would she do that?'' wondered Mari'il.

`''My guess,'' explained Abdiel, ``is that if she can perfect this process, then she—along with the other privileged few she grants access to it—will have have gained practical immortality. They can keep transferring their consciousness into younger bodies and never have to die of old age. But that's merely my guess at her motivation.''

``And,'' added Ariel, ``the fact that this immortality would effectively be at the cost of other Arume lives would matter not at all to Zephrael. As long as achieves her goal, she wouldn't care how many others she has to sacrifice to get there.''

Loriel thoughtfully looked from one to the other of her visitors. Mari'il recognized her expression as one of thought and careful consideration. After a few moments pondering this way, she sat up straight and looked directly at Abdiel. ``You have certainly brought me an important piece of news, and not a happy one. On the other hand, I long ago learned things don't always go the way we wish. I find it troublesome that Zephrael seems to have actually tried these experiments, not to mention her work toward eliminating, even killing, the target consciousness. Would you mind copying me on the data you based these conclusions on? I give you my word I will keep it as private as I can and only use it to try to protect people. I have a feeling some of this is unpublished and valuable to your academic career.''

``Of course,'' said Abdiel, taking out a data chip and pushing it across the low table to Loriel. ``Here's everything I've found. I brought it thinking I might have to use that to convince you.'' She gave a small bow. ``And thank you for your reassurance. If you are able to save anybody, that is more important than any scholarly benefit I might gain, but you are right, I would like to publish my conclusions from this research once I have finished verifying them.''

``Thank you,'' said Loriel, taking the data chip. ``I'll see what I can do from the military side to make sure that Zephrael doesn't harm anyone else in her `studies.' I will also cut orders to that effect for her work with Fleet and at Fleet Hospital. Unfortunately, I am not sure how much effect I will be able to have in the civilian world.''

Abdiel looked at Ariel who nodded, so she began, ``Thank you. I will see if there's anything I can do at the University. That may take a while, as such things tend to require many meetings and much deliberation.'' She looked up as an idea came to her. ``One thing may help. If you happen to uncover anything pointing to her use of non-consenting subjects, that is against academic policy and also against the oath we swore upon getting our medical credentials. That might help move things more quickly.''

``I will be sure to give you anything like that I find,'' replied Loriel, ``gladly.''

``Thank you, all of you,'' said Mari'il. ``I've experienced Zephrael's callous attitude toward `patients.' I hope you will be able to save others from it, or worse. If there's anything I can do to help...'' She trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

``You already have,'' explained Loriel. ``You have been the catalyst here, and once again I think you maybe helping more than you know.'' She stopped, looking like she might have more to add but decided against it.

The meeting over, they all got up, and Loriel walked them to her office door. ``Thank you for uncovering this and bringing it to my attention,'' she said. ``If I find out anything further, I'll make sure to let you know. Would you mind if I asked an occasional question in return?''

All three agreed they'd be more than happy to answer, and thanked Loriel in return for her help.

``Well,'' said Abdiel as they headed back through the corridors on their way out, ``that went far better than I expected. I was quite impressed by Grand Admiral Loriel.''

``She does leave an impression, doesn't she,'' said Mari'il.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il took a skimmer across town for an appointment with Abdiel. Her office was in a high-rise in the university district. Mari'il thought that there were a lot more high-rise buildings than on earth. [[ _But I guess that's to be expected given the control of gravity we have here and which the Forime lack._ ]]

Abdiel's office looked like that of a typical researcher: most horizontal surfaces where covered with recorders, instruments and random notes. The walls which weren't covered with shelves were configured as display screens, most showing data for some upcoming article or the results she was checking. However, one spot in easy view on the corner of her desk was kept clean. There sat a tiny projector, above which glowed a hologram of Abdiel standing next to another Arume. They had one arm around each other's waist and their other hand on the shoulder of a little girl standing in front of them.

``Your family?'' asked Mari'il.

``Yes.'' Abdiel smiled. ``That's Tachiel, my partner, and our daughter, Gloriel.''

Mari'il also smiled at this happy domesticity and took the chair Abdiel offered her.

.

``Thank you for coming,'' began Abdiel. ``Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your telepathy back when you ...had two separate bodies?''

``No, go right ahead.''

``From what you've told me, it sounds like you first experienced touch telepathy in that one shared dream. Where there any cases before then?''

``We're not quite sure,'' answered Mari'il. ``None come to mind right now, but we'll think about this and get back to you.''

``Thank you. Anyway, that dream you shared seemed to prove that the two of you certainly had touch telepathy, and your conversation in the pool showed you can control it. Were you ever able to talk telepathically like that when you weren't touching?''

``I don't think so,'' replied Mari'il. ``At least we were never able to `talk' that way.'' A wistful smile grew on her face. ``Although we can't be certain about that. It seems like we were holding hands most of the rest of the time after our confession in the pool.'' Mari'il blushed as Abdiel joined in smiling at this happy memory.

``On the other hand,'' she continued. ``Looking back, it does seem we were able to sense some of what the other was feeling. For example, when the invasion interrupted the play, I could tell that Ekaril was worried and scared, and also sad. But I couldn't tell about what. I couldn't even ask what worried her ...or beg her not to leave,'' she concludes the memory of pain showing on her face.

[[ _You know that I—_ ]] Ekaril began, but Mari cut her off.

[[ _I know,_ ]] said Mari, sending all the love and reassurance she could to Ekaril. [[ _I know, and I understand why... and you were able to come back to me anyway._ ]]

Abdiel nodded, understanding. ``I'm sorry. I didn't intend to dredge up painful memories along with this.''

``Don't worry,'' Mari'il reassured her when the short exchange between Mari and Ekaril was done. ``Every time you have `dredged up' memories like this, we have ended up feeling closer to each other afterwards.'' She smiled. ``So, from a little sadness, we end up with a stronger love.''

``Thank you. I'm glad you can see it that way. I certainly never wanted to bring you pain.''

Abdiel gave a nervous laugh as she changed the subject. ``On the other hand, that all matches my theories.'' She brought up a graph on one display wall, replacing the existing data there. ``This graph is one representation of the brain-wave data like Zephrael was gathering from you. I—and some others in this field—have learned that certain rough shapes on these graphs correspond roughly to certain strong emotions or thought-patterns like complete confusion.''

Mari'il nodded, indicating she understood this much and that Abdiel should continue.

``I think you could sense the same general shape these graphs show at a distance, but without touch, you couldn't sense enough detail to get more than a general feeling. The knowledge of each other you already had let you understand each other's general feeling from these `shapes' that you could sense a at distance just like the sensors that gathered the data for these graphs. If you'd like, I can talk more about quantum brain-waves, tunneling and information loss, but that gets a bit technical.''

``You don't need to do that now,'' said Mari'il, her ordinary expression returning to her face as the painful memories finished receding. ``I don't think we'd really understand the technical details anyway. Though it does sound like you understand why this telepathy only works when touching.''

.

``So, moving on to another topic,'' Abdiel continued. ``I'm not sure if it will help in figuring things out, but would you mind telling me how you learned to `live together' in Mari's head?''

``We don't mind,'' said Mari'il. She looked at the ceiling for a bit, trying to arrange her thoughts and answers. ``Ekaril and Mari could always talk. I guess it's obvious we were always `touching' each other after Ekaril `moved in' so our telepathy worked. However, at first, that was all Ekaril could do. I guess Mari's brain and body were different enough from her own and the surveillance remote that it took some time to learn how to work with it.''

``I also felt I was a `guest' and didn't want to do _anything_ that might hurt Mari,'' she continued in Ekaril's tone of voice. ``Just being able to talk with her and be with her was sufficient.''

``Yes, but,'' she responded with Mari's accent. ``There was so much I wanted to share with you and show you, and I didn't want to keep you there as a prisoner.''

Abdiel laughed at Mari and Ekaril's dialog as they answered, and at how it continued to reflect their feelings for each other. She motioned Mari'il to continue.

``Anyway, the first thing Ekaril learned—and this in the first couple days—was to share what Mari was sensing. For example, we were both able to see or hear the same thing. Next we learned to concentrate on different things. That proved useful in class where Mari could listen to our friends whispered conversation behind her while Ekaril paid attention to the teacher so she wouldn't catch us not paying attention.'' Mari'il laughed at the memory of this frivolous use of so big an advantage. ``As we practiced changing focus and the like, Ekaril learned to move our eyes and head. Though she was always very careful to ask permission before `doing something' with our body.'' Mari'il smiled at the memory. ``And Mari was good about encouraging ...inviting Ekaril to do more. Anyway, that led to her learning to control the rest of our muscles, like our arms and legs. There were a couple embarrassing accidents while learning, but Ekaril's natural grace soon overcame any awkwardness. At first it was only gross motions, but fine motor control came soon after. Somewhere in there came enough control to allow Ekaril to speak. Personally I think that Mari's subconscious helped a lot with this whole process.''

Abdiel nodded in agreement.

``Ekaril claims she could never have learned this all without help. I think she might be right, as Mari feels she got similar help from Ekaril's subconscious when learning to control our nanomachines.''

``That makes sense to me,'' Abdiel replied. ``It's nice that each of you have been able to help and teach each other like this. And it sounds like both of your subconsciousness are on good terms with each other.'' She smiled at Mari'il. ``Of course, I shouldn't be surprised at that, seeing how deep your love for each other is.''

Mari'il joined Abdiel in happy laughter at this, and agreed that Mari and Ekaril did seem to have settled into a cooperative cohabitation.

.

``Oh. I almost forgot,'' exclaimed Mari'il. ``I brought something for you.'' She took out a data chip and passed it over to Abdiel. ``I found that I actually do have some brain-waves recorded from our time back on Arume when we ...each had our own bodies. I thought you might find them interesting. Maybe they could even help.''

Abdiel's eyes grew wide. ``This is priceless. Thank you. Could you tell me how these were recorded.''

``These were made by a surveillance remote. I'd have to look up which exact sensor suite it probably carried, if you want that detail.''

``No, that's all right.''

``The only other survivor on _Blue_ was concerned about me and kept a closer watch on me than might have been strictly in accord with regulations.'' Her eyes took on a distant look as she remembered Tsubael and all that she did. ``Now, I'm really glad she did. Tsubael was more than just loyal crew, she was a good friend.''

``Thank you. I don't think that I'll need details on the recording,'' answered Abdiel, ``but if I do...''

``Of course. All you need do is ask.''

``If you wouldn't mind telling me anything else about when the recording was made which might help me interpret them?''

``Sure, I don't mind,'' answered Mari'il. ``The main part here was recorded one evening when the two of us were returning from a neighboring town. Mari wanted to walk back together, so that's what we were doing. Mari hurt her foot and we ended up taking shelter from a sudden rainstorm in a vacant restaurant. As we slept there, Mari was able to see what Ekaril dreamed about the explosion aboard _Blue.''_ Mari'il paused, remembering the whole incident and a sad smile slowly grew on her face. ``Thankfully that shared dream helped bring us together rather than push us apart. ...I, that is Ekaril, wish I'd found the courage to tell Mari everything then. I found out that keeping secrets from her was actually more painful to her—and to me—than the truth.'' An echo of regret passed across her face. ``Yes, Mari dear, I did end up telling you everything. We've forgiven each other now ...and yes, even ourselves.''

Abdiel looked at her, respect and thanks growing on her face as she listened. ``Thank you for sharing this... this truly precious moment for the two of you. I really hope I can find something in this data that will help you as well.''


	12. Chapter 12: Honor and Remembrance

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 12**

**Honor and Remembrance**

* * *

An unexpected knock on her office door took Mari'il's attention from the design she was reviewing. ``Come in,'' she said, looking up to see who it might be.

The door opened to admit Loriel. ``Do you have a minute?'' she asked.

``Of course,'' an astonished Mari'il agreed and motioned her to take a seat. ``Welcome to my little office. And thank you again for arranging this job for me.''

``Not at all. From what I hear from Tadael _we_ ought to be thanking _you_ instead. It sounds like you're doing an excellent job.'' Loriel smiled. ``But let me get to the reason I came here. I wanted to tell you in person.'' She paused, then continued in a more formal tone, ``Next week we will be holding a ceremony on the Memorial Plain for all who perished on Forime, and we wondered if you would like to come. I understand if you might not want to after all that Shivariel did to both of you, or since this is honoring those who invaded Mari's home world and killed your parents.'' She still stumbled over addressing Mari and Ekaril individually.

``Thank you,'' said Mari'il, interrupting Loriel's worrying. ``We'd love to come. And... Thank you for holding this ceremony,'' she concluded, still a bit stunned by the news. ``They really do deserve the honor.''

``You're welcome. And thank you for understanding.'' Loriel paused and the uncertain tone returned to her voice. ``You understand how and why we've been keeping the details about Ekaril and Mari classified, so giving you the formal part you should have could pose some problems, but we would still like you to participate.'' She bowed to Mari'il. ``If you do want to take your formal place as an expedition member, then we will just have to figure out how to handle the intelligence issues. For when it comes to a conflict between expediency and honor...''

``No,'' replied Mari'il. An understanding smile grew on her face. ``There's no need to formally include me. I'm happy just being another attendee. And aside from the secrecy issues, I wouldn't want to be a distraction from those we should be honoring.''

``Thank you for understanding. But please realize, Ekaril, that you really are one of those we are honoring. The fact that some miracle allowed you to come back here should never diminish the sacrifices you made, nor the duty you fulfilled. Please believe that.''

Mari silently reinforced Loriel's point here.

``All right.'' She returned a wan smile. ``I'll try.''

Both Mari and Loriel recognized that Ekaril really would try, and also how hard it would be for her.

``Are you really all right with this, Mari?'' Loriel asked in closing. ``I want to make sure you understand that by ancient tradition, anyone who feels a connection to the fallen being honored may come, but it is never allowed to force anyone to come. Everyone attending is considered tied by their mutual bonds to the lost, so no-one may be called a `stranger' there.''

``No, I really do want to come,'' replied Mari'il in her odd accent. ``I specifically want to honor Ekaril and Onomil and their sacrifice, ...and the others as well. My place is with Ekaril.'' She smiled. ``And after all, what world should we call mine? Since coming here with her, _this_ has become my world. Her people shall be my people, and her fate shall be my fate. Whoever she honors, I too will honor. For our lives are one.''

Loriel bowed deeply to Mari'il, truly touched and at a loss for words.

Mari'il's glistening eyes showed that Ekaril was as touched by this as any of them.

``Thank you, Mari, Ekaril,'' said Loriel, finally finding her voice. ``You two truly have a partnership worthy of those out of legend. I am honored to know you.''

ooo OOO ooo

The morning of the ceremony Mari'il took out her full dress uniform, for the fallen and the Memorial Plain deserved no less. While she was putting it on and paying extra attention to get every detail right, Ekaril told Mari some of the history and significance of the Plain.

Long ago, in ancient history, during the First Continental War, the combined armies of Creswell's foe, the Hayer Union, were advancing upon her capital city. Her own army was too far away to return to stop them, and the only force around was the allied Trillian Guard, themselves far from home. The Guard dug themselves in across this plain to block the invaders from the capital of their ally. One side of the plain dropped away in cliffs to the sea while the other rose in impassable mountains, so the Trillian Guard on the plain would block the only passage to the city, if they could but hold. The day of the battle came, and fighting was hard and fierce. Trillians and Hayers fell by the score, and come the end of the day the Trillian lines still held, barely. But the capital of Creswell was safe.

After the war, the people of Creswell erected a monument on the Plain to the Trillians who had died far from home, protecting a city which was not even their own. They had chosen to hold, defending their honor and their ally rather than take the safety of retreat. For they all could have survived had they but given up their allies' city to the invading army.

The Trillians, too, erected a monument there, to watch over the graves of their fallen and keep bright their memory.

Even their foes saw the honor of the Trillian Guard, and after the war the opposing commander arranged for his own monument on the plain. His also was to the fallen, including the Trillian Guard: ``I trust them to watch over our dead as well, for I know their honor—I myself have seen the strength with which they defend it. I could not leave our fallen under better protectors.''

Since then, this plain has come to be seen as the symbolic resting place of all Arume who have fallen far from home, especially those whose bodies are never recovered. Its original name has been forgotten by all but a few scholars and it is known simply as the Memorial Plain. Other monuments have been raised, but by consensus every one has been to _all_ fallen, regardless of the side they fought on. So the plain is now ringed in spires of white stone. The Memorial Plain became an even more significant spot since Gosuta were created and joined the military. As they were artificially-formed and exploded, sacrificing themselves in battle, this plain was seen as the perfect tribute to them. It had taken Mari a while to get used to the concept of Gosuta, but Ekaril had helped her understand. Now she did, and also saw how the plain was special for and to Gosuta.

.

Mari'il checked her uniform in the mirror one last time before leaving. As she headed out the door, Mari silently said, [[ _Ekaril dear, I want you to be the one controlling our body today, fully. More than just you knowing all the protocol, today is for_ you. _I will always be with you, to support you and love you, but today it is only right that you lead in this sacred event._ ]]

Ekaril forbore hugging herself to thank Mari, as that might muss her uniform, but she did let Mari know in the fullest sense possible just how much her understanding and generosity and love meant to her as she took their body and walked out the door.

Mari'il arrived at the slip in the Fleet harbor where the cruiser _Elderol_ waited to take her and others to the Memorial Plain. On the pier standing ready to board, Mari'il found Loriel waiting for her. Beside her stood Phanuel, and Tadael, and all of the rest of her team at 'Ships. She was touched that they all came, and though nobody said or asked, Mari'il herself was one they were especially honoring. After she had asked Tadael for the day off to participate in this ceremony, the rest of her team quietly got together and decided that they too would all attend.

.

_Elderol_ landed Mari'il and her comrades on the seaward edge of the Memorial Plain, then backed off into the nearby ocean to await the close of the ceremony, for as important as ships might be, this was a ceremony for people, not for equipment. This ceremony dated back to the earliest days of Arume history, and in honor of tradition, but more importantly in honor of those who'd given their lives, not a person floated off the ground. Their ranks marched together as one, each foot hitting the ground in time as they formed a square upon the green meadow, surrounded by white stone monuments of ages past, looking out over the pure blue ocean.

Mari'il stood together with the ranks of her fellows, all resplendent in shining white of their full dress uniform. The first drum-beats of ``Requiem to the Fallen'' rolled across the meadow and over them, and as one, their arms came up in salute. Ekaril remembered her fallen comrades: Onomil who gave her life to save _Blue_, Beruthiel and her landing party whose lives were snuffed out by that same explosion, the innocent crew of _Novaal_ whom she killed, and many, many more. She was able to remain at attention, saluting, only from years of practice and because the very act and effort of doing so honored these comrades and their sacrifice. It was a supreme effort, and she almost broke once while going over her own list of the fallen in her head, when she reached Mari's parents who died saving their daughter—for they were no less worthy of honor than any others. Mari's gratitude was overwhelming.

In one way only, did this differ from her most formal attention. When the clear notes of the strings climbed heavenward above the supporting chords from the horns, Ekaril let her tears flow, washing clean her own feelings of bereavement, of anguish, of not having done all she could. She stood tall, tears running freely down her cheeks, carrying away some of the pain she still kept in her heart. Mari stood with her, grieving as well, crying as well. And they each cried for the one they had saved, for the one who made this sacrifice all worthwhile, for the one who gave them a new life here they could share.

As the last notes of ``Requiem to the Fallen'' drifted away, the descending sun reached the ocean's far edge. It's setting rays touched each of the serene white shafts of the monuments surrounding the plain, turning them golden and crimson, alight with its fire: each a torch lit in memory of the fallen for as long as the planet would turn.

Thus ended the ceremony. It was a ceremony of thanks, and one of farewell, but it was also one of beauty: the beauty of the music, the beauty of the plain and monuments, the beauty of their precise ranks angelic in their immaculate uniforms, the beauty of the setting sun, all a fitting tribute to the beauty of their comrades' sacrifice.

.

Mari'il sat among her comrades again as _Elderol_ took them back across the ocean to their home port and back to their normal lives. Few said anything, but Ekaril was grateful for their supportive presence. She felt drained by the events of the day, but would not have missed it for anything. It brought her an odd sense of peace and of completion. Mari, with her special insight, thought that perhaps the ancient traditions of this ceremony had helped Ekaril lay aside some of her guilt over the Kamioki Island incident and the loss of _Blue_. Maybe it was joining her comrades in honoring these dead; maybe Ekaril was able to leave some of this burden of guilt at the Memorial Plain to be watched over by fallen there; and maybe her tears had helped wash away her feelings of guilt. None of the reasons mattered to Mari. What did matter was that they all had been able to honor their fallen, and most important of all that it made Ekaril feel better.

* * *

**Author's Note:**  
This chapter is one of the few cases where I can point to a specific inspiration. I had no thoughts of these events when I first drafted the outline for Angel's Home. I knew that having something to help Ekaril with her guilt over the deaths on Earth would be good, but when and exactly what were completely unformed. Then inspiration hit, in this case musical. I happened to be listening to the soundtrack for the live-action **H2** TV series when track 15, _Gloria,_ came on, and I had my answer.

When I got home, I played the track again and sat down to write. The ceremony itself was easy, but such take meaning and significance from their history and traditions. What were these? I felt they were there, waiting for me to describe. I tried the same trick with the same music again, and the story of the Trillian Guard and the Memorial plan just flowed out onto the page. And so I found the story of the Arume equivalent of Arlington and Gettysburg, and also the stage for and an opportunity to help assuage some of Ekaril's feelings of guilt for those lost under her command.


	13. Chapter 13: Memories of the Past

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 13**

**Memories of the Past**

* * *

Mari'il was settling into her new apartment and job. They were both still new and interesting—and she hoped there would always be some of that—but also part was actually developing into a routine. And in that routine she found comfort as she settled into her new life.

.

[[ _Good Morning, dear Mari,_ ]] said Ekaril. [[ _It's time to wake up._ ]]

Mari mumbled back lovingly.

Mari'il got up, got dressed and headed out to make breakfast. Mari was still as inclined to sleep late as always, but now she could let Ekaril take care of things early in the morning. In fact the two actually turned this into another opportunity to express their feelings for each other. Ekaril made breakfast _for_ Mari and fed her. Anyone looking on would just see Mari'il making and eating breakfast on her own, though they might be puzzled by her periodic blushes.

Mari'il looked out as dawn broke over the bay outside her balcony this weekend morning while she enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and tea.

[[ _Do you remember dreaming at all last night?_ ]] asked Ekaril.

[[ _Not really, dear. I slept pretty soundly._ ]]

[[ _Hmm... then you probably didn't see the one I had,_ ]] Ekaril explained. [[ _I dreamed I was back on Earth, but I was a little girl living with my parents. Here, see..._ ]] and Ekaril shared her memory of the dream with Mari.

[[ _Ekaril, that feels really familiar to me._ ]] Mari paused, thinking slowly this early in the morning. [[ _I think those are my parents ...and even myself. Here's the picture of them Grandmother kept._ ]] Mari shared the memory of it with Ekaril. [[ _...do you think this means..._ ]]

[[ _I wonder if this might be your childhood memories coming back. But why would they appear to me and not to you?_ ]]

[[ _I can't think of anyone I'd rather show them to,_ ]] said Mari. She thought for a moment. [[ _I wonder if Abdiel might have some ideas on why._ ]]

.

Mari'il contacted Abdiel later in the morning, waiting until a polite hour in order not to wake her by accident. ``Abdiel, would you have a moment to discuss something with Mari and Ekaril?'' When Abdiel said she did, Mari'il continued, ``We were wondering if some of Mari's childhood memories might be returning. Ekaril had a dream last night that seems to be composed of them. Does this make any sense to you?''

``Yes, it does,'' replied Abdiel. ``And it's really interesting, especially that the dreams appeared to Ekaril. I have wondered why Mari remembered nothing at all before _Blue's_ drive explosion. It seemed to be an even more complete memory block than is typical in such traumatic events.'' She paused, thinking for a bit. ``I have one theory, but I never said anything about it. I don't have any evidence and didn't want to worry you with idle speculation. Also you never seemed to be bothered by these missing memories.''

Mari'il agreed that she wasn't bothered. Though she wondered to herself if this might come from Mari and Ekaril both refraining from thinking of earth often. Even though both had left good friends behind there, enough painful had happened to each of them that neither wanted to hurt the other by possibly bringing up those bad memories. Perhaps it was time to change this, so Mari'il prompted Abdiel to please go on and describe her theory.

``Well, you've told me how Ekaril rescued Mari after the explosion. I know that you had to be terrified at that time, Mari: you were drowning and your parents were gone. Perhaps you might even have been able to sense that they were afraid or even dead then, via your telepathy like we talked of before. Anyway, when Ekaril swam down to pull you to the surface, I'm sure she also wanted to reassure you that you'd be all right, that you'd be safe.''

``Yes,'' said Mari'il, using Ekaril's tone of voice. ``I really wanted to save her, to make sure that she actually survived the incident safely. Given all of those under my responsibility who died, if I could save even one child...''

``And you did,'' she continued with Mari's accent, reassuring Ekaril.

``Exactly,'' said Abdiel ``The point being that Ekaril strongly wanted to save and reassure the child, Mari, and that Mari wanted `all that scary stuff' to go away. Maybe even Ekaril didn't want to think too much of it.''

Mari'il nodded, confirming this.

``Well, I think that maybe your touch telepathy had an effect here, and perhaps added strength here. You both wanted Mari's terror to go away, ...so maybe your minds worked together to lock away all of the scary memories and just did too good a job.''

``Oh Mari,'' Ekaril exclaimed out loud. ``I wanted to save you and now it looks like I ended up hurting you instead. It's my fault ...again.''

``No,'' contradicted Mari and Abdiel simultaneously.

[[ _I have you. That's all I need,_ ]] Mari added silently. [[ _This helped bring us together, so it can't be bad. It also saved me from having to deal with those painful memories throughout my childhood. Please, don't blame yourself for this too, my love._ ]]

``Ekaril,'' Abdiel pointed out. ``Mari seems perfectly well adjusted now. She doesn't regret the lack of those memories, so was she actually harmed? And most importantly, you were trying to help her, and this came from your working together. I doubt either of you could have done anything like this alone or without full subconscious cooperation of each other.''

``Please, Ekaril,'' begged Mari.

Mari'il nodded, hesitantly, as Ekaril agreed.

``I wonder,'' Abdiel mused. ``I wonder if your subconscious—maybe both of yours—is realizing that you're now safe here, and that you don't need to keep these memories shut away anymore. If you want to try to get your childhood memories back, I suppose a comforting safe environment would help.'' She paused, thinking.

[[ _Mari, do you want these memories?_ ]] asked Ekaril, privately and hesitantly. [[ _You know I'll help you and support you with whatever you decide to do about this._ ]]

``There's no need to rush at all,'' added Abdiel. ``And there's nothing wrong with not remembering or just seeing if these memories naturally return.''

Mari'il looked thoughtful.

``But if you do want to try to encourage them, maybe your close friends might have some ideas on making a safe and secure environment for your subconscious.''

.

Mari'il closed the connection with Abdiel and sat down to think over what she'd said.

[[ _I think Abdiel might be on the right track with her theory,_ ]] Ekaril mused.

[[ _Yes. It sounds right,_ ]] thought Mari. [[ _... it feels right._ ]] She smiled. [[ _I guess you've been caring for me and protecting me for longer than I can remember. Thank you._ ]]

Ekaril was touched—and relieved—that Mari felt this way about it.

By happy coincidence Ariel and Raphael were already coming over this evening, so Mari'il decided to talk this over with them. As Abdiel said, maybe they'd have some ideas too. Perhaps it was finally time time to think of the past as well as the present and future.

ooo OOO ooo

The sun sent its shadows reaching out over the bay as it headed away toward the opposite horizon when Mari'il heard the traditional polite knock at her door. Ariel always did this, never failing to show her consideration for others. Mari'il opened to door to find Ariel and Raphael standing there, holding the carry-out dinner they brought to share.

``Come on in,'' invited Mari'il.

The three enjoyed their meal together, sitting around Mari'il's table, enjoying the pattern of shadows and soft twilight visible off her balcony. Since Mari'il's nanomachine treatments the three had become fast friends and their conversation wandered around as friends will when enjoying each other's company. As dinner wound down, Mari'il told them of her dream and her conversation with Abdiel.

``So,'' asked Ariel. ``What are your thoughts on trying to get Mari's childhood memories back?''

``It might be nice,'' said Mari'il. ``But we've agreed we don't want to do anything that might hurt Mari _or_ Ekaril ...or even make them unhappy.''

``That's just like you,'' commented Ariel with a smile, ``each of you caring as much for the other as for yourself.''

Mari'il smiled back at this, pointing out that now it could be a bit difficult to differentiate. Raphael's silver laugh filled the apartment. They finished the meal and cleaned the table together.

.

With the dishes taken care of, the three moved and sat down on Mari'il's new couch to relax and watch the sun set.

``Did I ever tell you about my parents?'' asked Raphael, beginning the conversation.

Mari'il and Ariel both shook their heads.

``Mother's name is Isfahel, and her partner is Leliel.'' She looked at Mari'il. ``I don't know if you remember, but it's their image that I keep near the dining table.''

Mari'il nodded, remembering the hologram of an attractive couple which graced the spot Raphael described. She grinned. ``Now I understand where you got your good looks.''

``Th... Thank you.'' Raphael blushed in embarrassment. ``They are pretty, aren't they. Anyway, both are elementary school teachers in North Eularia. That's a small town on the other end of this island, so we don't get to see each other a lot, but we do talk regularly.'' She smiled back at Mari'il who remembered them calling each other when she was staying with Raphael.

``I remember that even before I was old enough to attend school, they occasionally would bring me to school with them. Isfahel-mama would give me a tablet and markers and let me sit in the back of her classroom. Sometimes I would draw, but mostly I just loved to watch her, standing there in front of the lecture board, looking so elegant as she explained things to the kids in class. When I was old enough, I was able to actually be in her class.'' Raphael laughed. ``She actually made me work and learn, then. Leliel didn't bring me to her class as much, since she taught older grades. When I got to her class, she made me work and study just as much, though her classroom was always fun. She was just as elegant as Isfahel-mama, and I think half the class was in love with her.'' Raphael laughed again. ``Also, they would often both take me to the pool where we would all swim together. I guess I love swimming as it reminds me of those times.''

``It sounds like you have a really nice set of parents,'' said Mari'il.

Ariel nods in agreement. ``And kind, loving ones, too.''

``Yes, they are,'' Raphael agreed. ``Looking back, I think their caring for their students inspired me to go into nursing, where I could also try to care for others like they do. I'm ...not smart enough to be a teacher.''

``I think you _are_ smart enough,'' contradicted Ariel. ``But regardless, you make a wonderful and caring nurse. Your parents should be proud of you.''

``Yes, you are, and you do,'' Mari'il agreed, bringing another blush to Raphael's cheeks. ``And a very good nurse, too. I'm sure your parents are proud. Thank you for telling me about them.'' She took Raphael's hand, trying to convey that she understood and appreciated both Raphael's telling these private memories, and also how she was trying to help Mari'il by sharing them.

.

Mari'il took a breath to gather her courage, and began speaking in Ekaril's tone of voice. ``I haven't really told many people of my mother.'' She tightened her grip on Raphael's hand, drawing reassurance from her. ``Her name was Shantaal. I'm sorry, I don't have any images of her to show you.'' She was able to show one from her memory to Mari, and hoped the touch-telepathy with Ariel might work to show her, too. ``She... she was killed while I was away at Fleet Academy. That was early in the Narame war.'' She paused to wipe a tear from her eye, and Ariel put a comforting arm around her. ``I went to the Academy, as I'd been fascinated by ships and Fleet since I was little and had dreamed of becoming a Fleet Commander. Mom was a civilian, but she always supported me and my dreams. I'm sorry the Academy took me away from her so we had less time together and I wasn't able to say one last goodbye to her, ...but I guess it also saved me since I wasn't around to be killed with everyone else in that explosion. But she never got the chance to come to my Academy graduation or see me in anything but my cadet uniform. ...well, except for the one she made for me when I was just a little girl.'' Tears continued to run down Mari'il's cheeks, but a little smile also broke through as she remembered all her mother did in their time together.

``I remember how proud she was of me in my first real cadet uniform after I was accepted at the Academy. Mom helped me make sure I put it on perfectly correctly so that everything was right the day I entered. She even took vacation from work that day so we could spend it specially together and so she could take me to the Academy and see me off there. We stopped near the gate and both got out, and I asked her to check my uniform again. She then took my hands, squeezing them, wishing me luck and saying, `I really want to give you a hug, but I don't want to muss your uniform'.'' A private smile came to Mari'il's face as she remembered using those same words when she headed out to the service on the Memorial Plain. ``Mom stood there by her skimmer and watched me walk away from her and through the Academy gates, carrying myself with all the dignity I could muster at that young age. I didn't quite understand the expression on her face as she watched me go. ...I have some idea of it now: she was both sad to see me leave, that I wouldn't be `her little girl' at home anymore; but she was also so proud of me, that I was growing up and following my dreams. Though I think there's still part I can't understand since I'm not a mother myself.'' Mari'il took a deep breath and wiped her cheeks again. ``That first year was tough, as we were only allowed to keep in touch by letter, and they only allowed one a week. Mom wrote to me every week, no matter how busy she was. I tried to write back, but I wasn't able to do it every week like she did. Mom always knew I'd succeed at the Academy. I guess that after she died, I just had to, as I couldn't bear to fail her faith in me.''

Mari'il continued, ``Mom was really devoted to her work, but she still always tried to spend time with me when I was young. She definitely loved me. There was a tree-lined park not too far from our home where we would often go together. I don't know if she found the squirrels as fascinating as I did when I was a little kid—I really enjoyed watching and playing with them. But I do think she equally enjoyed the occasional picnics we would have there. When I got older, we'd still go, but we tended more to just sit under the trees and chat or just enjoy the quiet green. I guess her loss hurts so much because the time we spent together was so precious. Or maybe that time is more precious because it was cut short.''

Mari'il took a deep calming breath, then continued, ``I don't really remember Mom's partner as she and Shantaal parted ways when I was very young, and Mom never talked much about her.''

By this time, Mari had enough experience in Arume society that she also knew that single parenthood like this was not uncommon, nor was there any stigma associated with it as some Earth societies had. Since children had become rarer with the falling population, the whole community would help in many little ways to help single parents—or, for that matter, even those with partners—raise and take care of their children.

``I remember how Mom made that little fleet uniform especially for me when I was tiny. I loved to dress up in that and play commander. Mom would often play with me: sometimes she was my crew, sometimes she was another ship, and sometimes she was the ship's computer.'' She laughed at the memory. ``I never did meet a ship's computer anywhere as good as her until _Blue_. I guess that does make some sense, though. Mom's job was developing the new computer systems and techniques which ended up being incorporated into our latest generation P-Brain machines, including those aboard _Blue._ I think she'd be happy to learn how widely they are now used, and how successful they've been. What's really hard is that it wasn't anything she was working on—or even had any control over—that killed her. The facility next to hers was doing research into new weapons and propulsion systems, and something set off an explosion there which devastated the whole area. I figure that the urgency of the Narame war pushed them to cut some corners on safety which came back and bit them. Afterwards the whole area was sealed off by the military, with the incident and even the reason for the quarantine being highly classified. I never looked deeper into those classified areas after becoming an officer and getting clearance. I guess part of me just didn't want to feel that loss again.''

Ariel pulled Mari'il tighter, bringing her head to rest on her shoulder and reassuring her that they were both here for her. Raphael gripped her hand in reassurance and snuggled closer. Mari'il relaxed into their embrace, comforted as much by their closeness as their words, and this brought a hint of a smile back to Mari'il's face as Mari also silently reassured Ekaril of her support and love.

``Thank you. Thank you all for supporting me,'' replied Mari'il. She took a shuddering breath. ``After that, Fleet became what family I had, and I devoted myself to my career and didn't think much of relationships. I did make friends in Fleet, good ones. You've met Loriel, but I don't think you ever knew Onomil and Tsubael, or even _Blue_.'' She smiled, remembering them. ``They were all good friends, but I never really thought of romance until I met Mari and she taught me ...taught me of love.'' Her face turned bright red and she continued quietly, ``Thank you, dearest.''

Ariel and Raphael weren't sure whether that last was Ekaril thanking Mari or vice-versa. Whichever it was, they were confident it was heartfelt and sincere, and that it meant a lot to both.

.

Ariel proceeded to share some of her childhood memories as well. While she claimed her parents were ``just ordinary people,'' she still had plenty of good memories of that time. She also told of her older sister and the fun they had playing together as children. Her stories also showed how her innate kindness and politeness came from her mother, who couldn't have been just ordinary to have raised such a daughter.

.

After Ariel finished telling of her parents and her childhood, Mari'il snuggled deeper into her friends' comforting embrace, relishing the feeling of comfort and security her friends gave her. She was settling in here on Arume: she had a job to support herself, and one where she was valued; she had a place to live and call home; and she had very good friends who cared for and supported her. Mari'il smiled at how Mari and Ekaril also worked to love and protect each other. Maybe Abdiel's discovery that their cohabitation in Mari'il's head might not be stable just made them each that much more precious to each other, treasuring what they wanted to never lose. If Mari thought about it analytically, she'd say she was trying to relax so she could open up more to Ekaril, and that Ekaril's telling of her mother was just one more thing she was trying to do to help. But Mari was never one who really thought that way. She just went with her feelings, so it probably was her subconscious not a reasoned plan.

She gave a contented sigh, feeling happy and secure here, then quietly began, ``Grandmother told me some about my parents. Mother was her daughter. Dad was an architect. He decided to move us to Kamioki island for the lovely scenery there after we visited it once on a family vacation.'' She continued recounting what her grandmother had told her.

Partway through this description, Mari'il said, ``I remember Mother taking me to my first day at grade-school. I was nervous about meeting my new classmates, but she promised me everything would be all right. She even made a special breakfast for me that morning: for strength and good luck. Dad even left late for work that day so he could share it with us. I remember his odd smile looking at me across the table, and his similar glances at mother. Now I recognize what those were. He was so proud of me that day, taking my first steps out into the real world.'' She paused. ``If only he could see me now. I wonder what he'd think of what I've become. Would he still be proud of me?''

Mari'il stopped as tears welled up in her eyes then overflowed down her cheeks. She realized what remembering this meant: that the wall shutting away Mari's childhood memories was crumbling. It felt good to remember Mari's parents and their love for her, but that memory also made her feel their loss that much more keenly. And perhaps breaking the wall itself hurt some.

Ekaril did her best to reassure Mari: of her love for her, of their togetherness, of her safety here, and of their new-found friends and belonging. [[ _Ariel, if you please..._ ]] she silently asked, hoping their touch-telepathy would work at this time.

Ariel understood her request, and hugged Mari'il tighter, placing a tender kiss on her cheek and on her forehead. ``Mari'il,'' she began, quietly. ``Mari, thank you for sharing your memories. I'm sure that your father would be very proud of you and the woman you've become.''

``I'm sure he would,'' agreed Raphael, continuing to hold Mari'il while wiping away her tears, just as Mari'il had done when she comforted her after that scary nightmare.

``You know, you really have grown up to be quite a remarkable woman,'' Ariel continued in explanation. ``Look, you were not only strong enough to survive and prosper after losing your parents and memory like that—not to mention losing all your friends and your whole planet—but you were able to overcome that and become the first Fori... Earth ambassador to another planet.''

``And,'' Raphael pointed out, ``I'm sure your mother would be overjoyed to see that you have found true love.''

Mari'il sniffed back another tear. ``Thank you. Thank you all,'' she said, hugging Ariel and Raphael close to her while Mari sent Ekaril her strongest feelings of love and gratitude.


	14. Chapter 14: Answers

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 14**

**Answers**

* * *

Mari'il found a message waiting for her when she arrived home at her apartment. Sitting down at her desk she opened it to play. The screen cleared then showed Loriel sitting at her own desk.

.

``Abdiel, Ariel, Mari'il, I just found this out and wanted to pass it on to you without waiting until the next time we meet. I'm sorry that won't be for a while, but I need to head out for another Fleet Exercise ...again.'' Her mouth quivered in a wry smile. ``These do tend to come up at the most inconvenient times, don't they. I hope you'll forgive me for being vague about any intelligence sources used here. I feel you all understand that need.

``Anyway, I've followed up on some of the information you gave me at our meeting. It seems that Zephrael has not been working alone on this consciousness transfer project. You were correct in pointing to her former teacher Sariel. I wonder what we might uncover if we look a little deeper into why she has disappeared from public and academic view of late.

``Her prime collaborator at the moment is Razael, another student of Sariel, and it sounds like she shares her attitude. I don't know if either of you you have run across Razael in your work. I expect Mari'il will find it especially worrisome that she has recently departed for Forime with a few assistants to see what they could do to help with the restoration of male Arume. Leastwise, that is what the mission description states. A detailed investigation of this mission shows that one of the items of cargo was labeled as a pair brain-scan analyzers. Purportedly these were for analyzing Forime, and they may be used for that as well, but what is suspicious is that they were previously used in Zephrael's laboratory and their weights don't match those recorded at delivery. You know how researchers tend to modify instruments, and that may be all we're seeing here, but given the other evidence, I'm concerned that this may be one of the devices Zephrael used to transfer consciousness. You reported that a high intensity Emil-Force wave seems to help with the transfer, so it may be significant that there are also three large Emil-Force storage bottles in the manifest.

``Unfortunately, I don't have the same level of influence on Forime as I do around here. Missions at the end of a long chain of Leminov shifts have always been granted a large degree of autonomy, and here is one case where that could be more of a problem than a help, so I'm not sure if there's anything significant I can do now that Razael's left. I did send word to one of our the division commanders heading to Forime of Razael, telling her what we've discovered here and what our suspicions might be. Ekaril might remember Admiral Mariel from our days together on _Celerol_ when she was still an operator.''

Mari'il paused the playback while Ekaril told Mari of the time when she served together with Mariel. Loriel was the commander of _Celerol_ and that was where Ekaril first met her. Mariel was fun-loving, but a bit ...different even back then.

``On the other hand, I now have enough data to show that Zephrael has been violating the terms of her research contracts with Fleet. While her `questionable' medical ethics don't violate any specific clauses, they do point to a lack of rigor in upholding others. One big violation was her shipping classified gear, including the brain-scan analyzers, to Forime with Razael without authorization. She also shipped another unauthorized pair to an unsecured location in Mindenev. Together with this, she's released some classified information she had been granted access to as part of her research. Because of these misdeeds, I was able to get her declared in violation of her contracts, which have thus been canceled. She will have to vacate her offices in Fleet Hospital. She'll be given two weeks to do so, but her data and computer access have been restricted immediately.''

Loriel smiled a cold smile, and Mari'il was happy to be neither the cause nor the target of it.

``Master Commander Phanuel, of the judicial branch, has been very helpful in arranging all the legal matters in this. She also uncovered some further violations which I must keep confidential.

``Abdiel, I've also found some more information about Zephrael's test subjects. I'm forwarding that to you separately in hopes you will find it useful in addition to disturbing like I did. I'm also sending you Phanuel's contact information in case she can help you with it.

``I hope that this finding provides more help than worry. I'm sorry to bring it to you, and that I can't provide much reassurance.

``Grand Admiral Loriel out.''

.

Mari'il sat there, simply staring at the blank screen where Loriel had just spoken. It was some time before she moved again. When she did, she shook her head to clear it. [[ _Do you think we need to worry about this?_ ]] Mari asked Ekaril.

[[ _I can't say for sure. Of course I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone on Earth, and that's the main worry I have about this being used there. If it helps any, I think it unlikely that Tsubael or Kouzuki-san would end up on the wrong—on either—end of this device._ ]]

[[ _Thanks. That is exactly what I was worried about._ ]] Mari sensed Ekaril's feelings of reassurance and loving protection, and they really did help calm her. [[ _Anyway, I guess there's not a whole lot we can do from here, even if we would worry. So I guess it's better if we don't._ ]]

[[ _Mari, my dear, those are wise words. Let's try to follow them._ ]]

With this thought, Mari'il got up from her desk and headed into the kitchen to prepare her dinner. Tonight she chose a more complicated set of dishes for her meal, as the care required preparing them would keep her mind occupied.

ooo OOO ooo

``So, what did you think of Loriel's message?'' asked Abdiel. She and Ariel had arranged to meet Mari'il in her office, and she voiced the question they all had.

``I'm glad she won't be able to cause any more problems at the Hospital,'' replied Ariel. ``Raphael will also be happy to learn she won't have to worry about running into her any more.''

``True,'' said Mari'il. ``that one encounter she had with Zephrael when I was moving out really unsettled her. On the other hand, I also hope that nothing bad happens on Forime or in Mindenev where she sent that equipment.''

``I do too,'' Abdiel agreed. ``I'm also glad Loriel was able to do kick her out of her Fleet work. I'm also grateful for the further information she sent me.''

``I may need some further help though, which brings me here.'' Abdiel nodded to Mari'il. ``Thank you for offering to introduce me to Phanuel.''

``No problem.'' Mari'il looked at the clock. ``Shall we head over? It's about time, and she has has a nicer office to talk in than I do.''

Abdiel and Ariel both agreed, so Mari'il led them through the long halls of Admiralty House. They arrived at Phanuel's office and Mari'il knocked at the door.

Phanuel immediately answered, inviting them to come in and have a seat.

``Master Commander Phanuel,'' Mari'il began, ``Let me introduce the friends Grand Admiral Loriel mentioned. This is professor Abdiel from the University, and Doctor Ariel from our hospital.'' She gestured to her two companions in turn.

``Abdiel, Ariel, I'm pleased to meet you. Mari'il told me we might have some things to share about Zephrael.''

Abdiel nodded, took out a data chip and passed it to Phanuel. ``Here is what I've found out about her involvement with university research. It looks like she's been careful to not arouse suspicion, but I hope that combining this with your data may help us protect folks at the university as well.''

Phanuel put the chip in her reader, and the four proceeded to discuss the evidence they had on Zephrael and what she might be trying to do. While Phanuel didn't know the details of the university's bureaucracies, her expertise in the judicial branch helped greatly in deciding how to best present this to the University Ethics Board.

``Thanks again for this data, Abdiel,'' said Phanuel as their discussion drew to a close. ``It gives me the last piece needed to create a legal wall between Zephrael and her test subjects—including you, Mari'il.'' Her smile showed both gentleness to those she was protecting and an unyielding strength to any opposing them. ``Also, if you would like, I'd be happy to review your complaint to the Ethics Board.''

``If you would, please,'' Abdiel replied. ``The closer to an airtight case we hand them, the faster the academic bureaucracy will move. I think this should prove sufficient to have her banned from the University as well.''

``Thank you both,'' said Mari'il, happy to hear of the widening circle who would now be safe from Zephrael.

.

Phanuel and Abdiel were good to their word, and the University Ethics Board soon declared Zephrael persona non grata. The only worrisome aspect was Phanuel's report that Zephrael had left for parts unknown immediately after cleaning out her office at the Hospital. Phanuel guessed that she headed for Mindenev following the equipment she sent there, but it would take time to trace the convoluted route she took trying to make it difficult to track her.

Mari'il hoped this didn't bode ill for the people of that distant land, assuming that's where she went. Mari'il and Phanuel figured this was her likely destination as she had also uncovered rumors that Sariel had disappeared into this less than perfectly law-abiding territory. Mari'il did wonder how Zephrael and Sariel would fit in there. After all, their own elitist attitudes and sense of superiority seemed opposite of the ``anything goes'' free-for-all which seemed to epitomize Mindenev culture. Some of the goings-on at their festivals would curl the hair of straight-laced Arume, to say nothing of how the assistant principal at Kaihou Academy would have reacted. Reports were that their politics were similarly loose. After thinking about it for a bit, Mari'il figured that this had to be the reason they ended up there, Sariel and Zephrael could slip their questionable activities through the cracks this looseness provided and bribe their way out if that didn't work.

ooo OOO ooo

Not long after Zephrael was banned from the university, Abdiel asked to see Mari'il again, saying she'd found some further interesting results regarding shared consciousness. Mari'il suggested also inviting Ariel, as she'd been involved in this from the beginning. So the three of them found themselves once more sitting together in Ariel's office, as that was the most convenient central location for all of them to meet.

``You sounded hopeful when you called me,'' Mari'il observed. ``Did you find something good? I can only hope.''

``I just might have. On the other hand, I don't want to falsely raise your hopes. If you don't mind, I've got a couple questions for you as well.''

Mari'il nodded in assent.

Abdiel turned to Ariel. ``Would you mind displaying that data I just sent over.''

Ariel instructed her office-computer to do so, and gave Abdiel control of the display which appears on the wall beside them.

``I've been looking through Zephrael's data as well as elsewhere, seeing what I could find about the underlying consciousness rejecting the transferred one. I've compared the records she took of your brain-waves, Mari'il, with those of her subjects and with those you gave me. These are some of the same graphs I showed you earlier, Mari'il.'' She brought up a pair of complex graphs on the wall-screen. ``See this confused spike here? I find it's present in Zephrael's subjects, but typically not in yours Mari'il. And those times you do show something here, it's shaped differently.'' She brought up a third graph. ``You can see here it's much smoother. Interestingly, these only seem to appear right after you have had to deal with Zephrael. I'm not too surprised as activity in this region is typically associated with fear, conflict and aggression. I wouldn't blame you for that kind of reaction after dealing with her. I've certainly felt that way. Interestingly enough, her subjects never seem to have these spikes disappear after the transfer, and they seems to change shape and grow as the original consciousness surfaces and rejects the transferred one.''

``How does this compare with ordinary Arume?'' asked Ariel.

``Here is one sample, mine,'' answered Abdiel, adding a fourth graph to the wall. ``You can see it normally doesn't have this `confused conflict spike' either. I tried a few things, and.'' She replaced her graph with another, ``This was when I deliberately worked myself up into being quite mad. At this point, it was easy to get mad at Zephrael for what she's been doing.'' Mari'il and Ariel joined her laughing at this choice. ``Interestingly enough, it didn't appear immediately, but only after I'd been mad for a bit: almost as if it had to wait until the anger seeped into my subconsciousness. Or maybe it was a mental adjustment to long-term conflict instead as subconscious reactions can also be pretty fast, though that's beside the point. Also you'll notice that my spike is closer to the shape of Mari'il's rather than Zephrael's victim's.''

Ariel raised an eyebrow at her change in terminology about Zephrael's test subjects.

Mari'il also noticed that, but instead asked a more important question: ``Does this mean that I'm closer to an `ordinary Arume' than to Zephrael's ...victims?'' She sat forward on her chair, hoping for an answer.

``Yes, and no,'' answered Abdiel with an enigmatic smile. ``In this area you definitely are, but there are other areas where you also differ from `average.' Significantly. When we apply Almiel's filtered transform,'' she transformed the graphs with a couple quick commands, ``you see that you and Zephrael's victims are more similar, having two distinct peaks, whereas mine shows only one.''

``Could this be the different consciousnesses?'' asked Mari'il. ``It also looks like the victims' are more distinct and one is noticeably smaller. For me it looks like they're about the same size, and there's a mixed area in between them that doesn't appear elsewhere.''

``Yes, Mari'il. That's what I saw.'' Abdiel broke into a big smile. ``Ariel, you've found quite an exceptional friend here.''

Mari'il blushed. ``You really should thank Ekaril for that,'' she added with a slight accent. ``She's much better at science and the like than I am.''

``Don't sell yourself short, Mari,'' said Ariel, making her blush deeper.

Abdiel smiled and nodded. ``This is also a good segue to some of my questions and the beginnings of a theory. Mari, Ekaril, Can I ask if you both continue to be `separately' conscious in there? For example, can you both be `present' at the same time, or can you both experience the same thing slightly differently and then compare that with each other afterwards?''

Mari'il laughed and then began to answer in her normal voice. ``Yes, you can say that. A lot of the time we are `both here' as you might say, and yes we `talk' to each other a lot. Maybe `talk' isn't the right word as it's become something far deeper than just language over time. Also even though only one of us may be talking to you, both of us _are_ always listening. Then again, there are times when we seem to be `thinking the same.' Have you ever had a close friend where the two of you reacted exactly the same way to something and you felt like you were both thinking exactly alike? It's like that but far, far closer. It's almost like at those times that we think much more as a single `Mari'il' than as individual `Mari' and `Ekaril'.'' She covered her mouth in a nervous laugh. ``But I'm not sure if any of that makes any sense at all.''

Throughout this answer Abdiel looked at Mari'il, thoughtfully, nodding in agreement. ``Yes, it does make sense. Thank you. I think it actually explains a lot here.'' She gestured to Mari'il's graph on the wall. ``You see, I think that the two peaks here represent your two separate personalities and this mixed area in between them represents the `Mari'il' when you think as one.''

``Mari'il really did pick up on the salient points of these earlier,'' said Abdiel. She put up another graph on the wall. ``I think this progression shows things clearly. This first one is from the data Mari'il gave me from when Mari and Ekaril were still separate but sharing a dream. Notice how the second, `Mari,' peak is much much lower here and there's almost no `mixed area' between them. This also confirms some of my theories on touch telepathy. Thank you Mari'il.'' She shook her head, and put up one more graph. ``Pardon that digression. Anyway, this one was taken recently, after Mari's memories reappeared in fact. Look how the `mixed area' has grown in strength without really diminishing the two main peaks.''

``Does that mean that we're getting better at working together?'' asked Mari'il.

``That seems the most likely explanation,'' Abdiel agreed. ``But you, yourself should probably be able judge whether you're `more together' now than earlier.''

Mari'il thought that this was likely the case, but wondered if that was just part of how a relationship would grow over time.

``Would these graphs also mean,'' Ariel interjected, ``that Zephrael's victims never reach this point of cooperation and thinking together?''

The other two smiled at her using up Abdiel's new term for the ``experimental subjects.''

Abdiel agreed that this would be her guess, though she never had the chance to ask. She then turned back to Mari'il. ``May I ask you a personal question?'' When Mari'il agreed, she asked, ``Do the two of you argue or fight much?''

``No!'' replied a surprised Mari'il. Then, as she thought about it more, a contented smile filled her face and she continued, ``How could we do that to each other? Oh yes, we definitely have in the past.'' Her face colored, embarrassed by a private memory. ``But now, no. I guess we're so close that we can feel how an argument like that really does hurt each other. And we love each other enough to never want to do that.''

She gave a private laugh then explained, ``The reason we're laughing is that in the last `argument' we had Mari was arguing for what she thought Ekaril wanted and Ekaril was arguing for what she thought Mari wanted. Once we realized what we were doing, the argument evaporated and we laughed and laughed and laughed.''

Abdiel joined in the laughter. ``That is an amusing form of `argument.' And I guess if you have to have one, that's the best kind to have.'' Her expression grew more serious but, no less happy. ``And if my theory is right, that's why you never need worry about succumbing to the fate of Zephrael's victims.''

``I believe the spike I first showed you in the victim's profiles comes from the stress and conflict of the two consciousnesses fighting for control, probably at an unconscious level—at least for the transferred consciousness. I've not seen anything in Zephrael's notes that indicates she explored what happened to the target consciousness.''

``No, she wouldn't,'' commented Ariel. ``They'd just be part of an experimental animal to her, or just one more obstruction to her plans to transfer consciousness from one Arume to another.''

``You're right, but I feel this disregard is also why she had problems. You see, the original consciousness never goes away, regardless of Zephrael's effort to suppress it; we seem to hold onto our existence, to life, quite firmly. I think that the original consciousness keeps struggling to express itself until it finally succeeds and rejects the transferred consciousness. Since you both are `there' and expressing yourselves, and since you're not fighting with each other for control—in fact, you seem to share perfectly—I don't see why you can't keep on living `together' like this. Your most recent brain-wave measurement also show the lowest levels in the `fear and stress' area for you, ever, so that's also a good sign.''

A wave of different expressions washed over Mari'il's face. ``Thank you!'' She took Abdiel's hands as tears began to leak out of the corners of her eyes. ``Thank you. I... We... we really hope you're right. That would be so wonderful to be true.'' [[ _Me first?_ ]] Mari asked silently, then continued with a slight accent, ``I do want to live, but more than that, I want Ekaril to. If I had to choose, I'd rather die in order to keep her alive than go on living after she was gone. I've been at that point, of losing Ekaril forever, twice already. I never want to face that possible loss again.'' She nodded, her deeply blushing cheeks now covered with tears, and continued in a different tone of voice, ``And I, too, never wish to be parted from Mari. I'll do anything to protect her. I would rather die myself than bring her any harm. Of course, you see that would hurt her anyway, so I really hope you have found the truth.'' Mari'il futilely tried to wipe away her tears. ``If there's anything we can do to help you confirm your theory, or even anything we could do to delay any rejection if it's wrong, please tell us. Please let us help.''

``Mari'il... Mari, Ekaril,'' said Abdiel, returning her grip on her hands while Ariel floated over to put a comforting arm around her. ``I promise you I'll do my best to help you. I think that this data shows that you're becoming stronger and more stably bound to each other, rather than fighting for dominance like Zephrael's victims. You're already doing all I would recommend: you care for each other... you love each other, and'' she laughed ``you're being good `roommates' in the one body you have.''

Ariel agreed. ``You do make a wonderful couple. I also think it's deliciously appropriate that your love for each other may be the very thing that gives you a long life together.''

* * *

**Author's Note:**  
As some of you have been interested in which facts I have pulled from the manga, compared to ones I have made up, I thought you might find this of interest. The following contains a spoiler for the _Blue Drop: Tenshi no Bokura_ manga, so some of you may not wish to read the rest of this note.

In the manga, Razael actually transfers the consciousness of Shouta's friend Kenzo into the body of ``a defective Arume.'' I decided that Zephrael's research could well be the basis for this. And here, I have tied the actual transfer machinery back to Zephrael as well as making her and Razael collaborators. And yes, Mariel here is ``Admiral Ma-chan'' from the manga. Hopefully these aren't too many ties back and forth.


	15. Chapter 15: A Legacy

**Author's Note:**  
Please pardon my delay in getting this up. A couple things in the real world happened to delay my being able to. Here it is at last. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.

.

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 15**

**A Legacy**

* * *

Mari'il took a skimmer from her apartment to Admiralty House early one morning. On the way there, she pondered why Loriel would have asked her here for a meeting. That had prompted her to come in early so she could still get the rest of her work done. She figured the meeting was something officially important as they were meeting in Loriel's office instead of at a restaurant. Or, perhaps, Loriel's schedule was just full and this place was the most convenient.

When the meeting time came, she headed over to Loriel's office, Mari'il was ushered straight in without any of the waiting she had when she first met her on arriving in _Myrdal._ Then again, she was no longer a suspicious, unknown newcomer who needed to be vetted first.

Mari'il's eyebrows rose in surprise when the door slid open to reveal Ariel also waiting in Loriel's office. The two were seated in the conversational group of overstuffed chairs rather than at Loriel's desk. Mari'il retained enough presence of mind to greet them. ``Good morning, Grand Admiral Loriel, Ariel.''

``Please have a seat and join us,'' said Loriel, gesturing to the empty chairs. Ariel also smiled and nodded in welcome. Mari'il came over and sat down in the empty chair opposite Loriel.

``Thank you for coming,'' began Loriel. I'm sorry I left the meeting agenda vague, but I'd like to discuss a matter of some delicacy and importance with you.''

Mari'il nodded for her to continue.

``You know that the reason we sent your expeditionary force to Forime was to help save our race. We've already lost the male Arume, and hoped to be able to restore them from what we found on Forime. But beyond that, our overall population has been shrinking for some decades. Ariel can confirm that our decreasing genetic diversity is both one cause and also an effect of this.''

Ariel nodded in agreement.

``She's also looked at your genome, and we agree that you have both some ancient Arume groupings unknown in our current population, and also new diversity from Forime.'' Loriel paused, glanced at Ariel for confirmation, then looked Mari'il straight in the eye. ``We'd like to ask if you'd be willing to contribute this diversity to the Arume gene pool. We feel this will help improve the odds for our race's survival. I wanted to ask your permission as we did too much to you without your permission when you first arrived. I also don't know if you can forgive us for what we did when invading your world and tearing your life apart.''

Mari'il looked in surprise from Loriel to Ariel and back. Both seemed fully sincere about this request, and the honesty of their need showed in their eyes. After a moment's private thought, she replied, ``Can I ask if you still have any of the eggs Commander Ekaril donated for Gosuta?''

[[ _Mari-san!_ ]] exclaimed Ekaril in her mind. [[ _Surely you don't mean..._ ]]

[[ _Yes, my love, I do,_ ]] replied Mari. Ekaril's response made it obvious how much this meant to her as well.

``I want to help preserve this genetic diversity,'' continued Mari'il, ``but I also want to make sure Commander Ekaril's heritage is preserved. Please. Let me use these eggs for a child of commander Ekaril and myself to preserve these lines together. I really hope they are still around.'' She hesitated, looking over at Loriel. ``I'm also willing to contribute otherwise, but if I ...if we could...'' They all understood the words she left unspoken.

Ekaril was overcome by Mari's desire to have her child, and the feelings of love she sent back turned Mari'il's cheeks red.

Ariel and Loriel both paused in surprise and looked at each other. They had expected fear or questions, or maybe even a reluctant agreement to donate genetic material, but not this. Loriel looked over to her desk. ``Oriol,'' she ordered the Admiralty House computer, ``check the Gosuta Program records to see if we have any eggs remaining from Commander Ekaril.''

Ariel reached over and took Mari'il's hand. ``Thank you. I really hope we do find some.'' Her gentle eyes glistened as they filled in gratitude.

[[ _I really wish we could follow more normal means to have a child,_ ]] Mari silently told her. She then continued out loud, ``The possibility of having a child to carry on Ekaril's legacy, as well as mine, is a gift beyond price. I'll do anything for that. And I want to help save `our race'—as that's how I've come to see Arume.''

``It would be so nice for the two of you to be able to have a child. If there's anything I can do to help, I'd like to.''

``Thank you, Ariel,'' said Mari'il, returning the squeeze on her hand. ``I hope we can too. And we'd love your help.'' She blushed. ``We would have wanted you to be part of this anyway.''

Loriel smiled at this exchange, then interjected. ``I don't know if you knew, but I've also been keeping my eyes open for a ship for you, however...''

An oddly peaceful smile grew on Mari'il's face. ``Thank you, but... Could you maybe put that on hold for a while? If this can work out... and I can keep my job at 'Ships...''

``Of course,'' Loriel replied with a laugh. ``That will be easy. And don't worry about keeping your job. I know Tadael will love to keep you and would be very sorry to lose you to commanding a ship, in spite of how good a ship commander you'll make.''

Mari'il blushed at the complement and nodded her head in response. While command had it's appeal, she hadn't realized until now how much she enjoyed the life she made here, or how appealing the thought of motherhood would be.

.

``Query completed,'' responded Oriol, interrupting this conversation and displaying some of the data on the far wall.

Loriel indicated she should continue.

She reported, ``There is one donation from Commander Ekaril still pending in the Gosuta program. It is scheduled for next month's factory run if current Gosuta requirements continue. It has been placed at the lowest priority by Zephrael and she tagged it for potential research use or destruction due to instability demonstrated by Commander Ekaril during the Forime expedition, though all directives from her have been suspended for review after her contracts were canceled.''

``Oriol, have that donation removed from the Gosuta project and have it delivered to Ariel's lab,'' ordered Loriel. ``Use my authorization and direct any questions to me.'' She confirmed this by keying a rapid sequence into the touch pad on the table before them and then looked up at Mari'il. ``If any of Zephrael's sympathizers are still around and check, they'll find that these eggs are no longer in the Gosuta program, which should satisfy them if they know of Zephrael's directive. For that matter it's also good cover in case Zephrael could find another method to insert a query into the system, though I doubt that's possible. And if they try something more...''

Mari'il had no doubt about who would come out the winner should Zephrael or her sympathizers push Loriel into that possibility.

She continued holding Ariel's hand and reached across to take Loriel's as well. ``Thank you! Thank you so much, from both of us. This is something that I thought I could only dream of. And if I can help by contributing otherwise to the Arume gene pool...'' She trailed off, but her smile indicated willingness to help that way as well.

ooo OOO ooo

As part of her studies in genetics and the population problem, Ariel had looked into the various reproductive techniques Arume used now that they were an all female race, so she was quite able to advise Mari'il on the possibilities here. In fact, using Ekaril's donated eggs was almost exactly one of the standard methods, and she was able to do do all the procedures needed for that, too. Mari'il was happy to have someone as gentle, caring and trusted as Ariel for these intimate operations. At least this reduced her embarrassment.

.

While waiting to see if their first attempt at a child would be successful, Mari'il pondered the future. [[ _Ekaril,_ ]] asked Mari, [[ _what do you want to call our daughter?_ ]]

[[ _I was going to ask you that, dearest, but you asked first._ ]] Ekaril laughed. [[ _It would be nice to give her a name with special meaning for you._ ]] When she realized the direction Mari's thoughts were headed, she explained, [[ _Arume tend to never name a child after either of her parents as that gets confusing._ ]]

[[ _Oh,_ ]] replied Mari. [[ _Well, I guess that means I shouldn't suggest Ekaril, Hagino or Senkouji._ ]]

Ekaril laughed again. [[ _Yes, I'm afraid so. But thank you. Also, Hagino and Senkouji would be considered a bit odd as names. They just don't sound like normal ones here._ ]]

Mari thought for a bit, then asked, [[ _What do you think of Micchi'il? Does that sound too odd?_ ]]

[[ _No. It's not common, but it's neither unheard-of nor strange. Are you thinking of Kouzuki-san? I'll never forget her helping you or defending me._ ]]

Mari'il agreed that yes, that's who she was thinking of, and that she was similarly grateful.

[[ _That would be perfect,_ ]] answered Ekaril. [[ _She was such a good friend._ ]]

.

They continued talking over other preparations they should make for their (hopefully) coming daughter, and all of the things they'd need to learn. [[ _Remember caring for little Noriko when we visited Funatsumaru-san's home?_ ]]

Mari did, though some memories, such as changing her diaper, were less fond than others like her bath with Ekaril or falling asleep with Noriko between the two of them.

Ekaril had to laugh. [[ _We'll have to take the good with the bad. And I'm sure that Ariel can find someone to teach us what we don't know. I'm also sure that Abdiel and Tachiel wouldn't mind if we asked them for advice about it either._ ]]

[[ _True. And I Guess Raphael wouldn't mind us asking her parents. Anyway since we'll always be together, that will definitely make it better._ ]]

The two also agreed to share the same good experiences with their daughter.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il sat in her apartment, looking out over the bay, trying to stay calm. Ariel had promised to call her this afternoon, and the anticipation was killing her. Ekaril and Mari tried to calm each other, but they were both having a hard time as they shared the same excitement and worry. Mari'il had been in to visit Ariel for tests and they couldn't wait to find out the results. These would tell whether they had conceived a child this time. The past couple attempts had been full of hope, but tests had ended up indicating that Mari'il was still without child. Ariel had again made a few adjustments and all of them shared hope for this attempt. They were pragmatic enough to realize that there were no guarantees, yet they still hoped.

The communicator chimed and Mari'il leaped up off her chair. ``Hello,'' she answered in breathless anticipation.

``Mari'il, this is Ariel.'' The screen showed her sitting in her office. ``I just got the test results in.''

``And...'' prompted an anxious Mari'il.

``And... congratulations,'' said Ariel, breaking into a big smile. ``They show you're pregnant. And yes, I double checked. I wanted to make sure for you, since this is so important. You also seem perfectly healthy, so everything looks like it should go well.''

``Oh, Ariel! Thank you!'' said Mari'il, her hands curling protectively over her stomach. [[ _Ekaril, Ekaril! We did it! You'll be a mother._ ]]

[[ _As will you, dearest,_ ]] replies Ekaril. [[ _And I know you'll make a good one._ ]]

Ariel waited, smiling, as she saw Mari'il pause with that special look on her face which then colored in a deep blush. When Mari'il's eyes focused back on her communicator, Ariel asked, ``I assume you both enjoyed the news?''

``Oh, yes,'' replied Mari'il. ``This is the best news you could have given us. Can you come over and celebrate?''

``I'd love to, but I do have to finish a couple things before I leave. I won't be able to get there for about an hour.''

``OK. I'll try to be patient. This is so wonderful! Thank you.''

``You're welcome. I'll see you then.''

Ariel closed the connection and Mari'il just stood there, staring at the blank screen for a while. Here cheeks were still rosy from the blush, and a smile of perfect happiness filled her entire face while she continued to tenderly enfold her midsection, and her new daughter, with her arms. Mari and Ekaril didn't say anything to each other. They didn't need to. Each could sense the other's overwhelming joy, and that only served to increase their own.

.

After some happy moments like this—though neither of them could say how long—they returned, once more noticing the world around them.

[[ _We ought to go tell Raphael,_ ]] commented Ekaril.

[[ _Oh, yes,_ ]] agreed Mari as Mari'il floated through their apartment and out the door, born as much by waves of happiness as by the gravity control of her nanomachines.

Mari'il knocked on Raphael's door, hoping she was home.

Raphael soon answered to find her friend and neighbor floating there with a big smile on her face. ``Oh Mari'il,'' she began. ``Did Ariel call?''

Mari'il nodded.

``And she said you are...?''

Mari'il nodded again, to happy to speak.

``Oh Mari'il.'' She tenderly embraced her. ``Congratulations. I'm so happy for you. ...for both of you.''

Mari'il returned the hug. ``Thank you. We're so happy.'' She buried her head in Raphael's shoulder and just held her tight as tears of joy filled her eyes and dampened Raphael's hair.

After a bit, Mari'il loosened her grasp and looked Raphael in the face. ``Ariel is going to be coming over in a bit to celebrate. Would you like to join us?''

``Thank you,'' responded Raphael. ``Of course I'd love to. I'd be honored.''

.

Ariel showed up right when she said she would, and the three decided that a celebratory meal at Sabrael's was in order—after all, Mari'il needed to make sure to eat properly now, and that restaurant had special meaning for her. It didn't take long for them to arrive by skimmer and for Sabrael to congratulate Mari'il and seat them at table.

``Have you thought of a name?'' asked Ariel once they had finished ordering.

Mari'il paused for a bit, once more thinking over her internal discussion about this, then answered, ``What do you think of Micchi'il? Do you think that's too strange?''

``Well,'' answered Ariel, ``that's certainly not a common name. But I like it ...I really do.''

``I do too,'' added Raphael. ``It sounds like the name of a beautiful girl, so that means it'll be just right.''

``Thank you,'' was all Mari'il could say in answer as she blushed at the implicit compliment.

At the end of the meal Sabrael herself brought over a special dessert. ``Here. A little something for your new little one,'' she explained setting it down in front of Mari'il.

Mari'il could only blush again as she bowed and thanked her.

She finished this dessert while the others enjoyed their drinks. It was exceptionally good—and it never appeared on any bill.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il headed to the city park this weekend day instead of her office in Admiralty House. A couple months ago, she told Tadael of her pregnancy, and not long after that the team arranged this picnic for her to celebrate. She hadn't meant to ask for a party, but everyone was so happy for her, she just couldn't say no.

She arrived to find most of her team had made it to the park before her and had everything set up. There were several blankets laid out on the ground to sit on, and a couple tables set up, each decorated with a bouquet of flowers from Anafiel's garden. One table was laid out with an impressive array of food and drink, both tasty and healthy—Ementaal had outdone herself here, though Mari'il recognized some dishes from other folks as well. The other table was covered with a pile of beautifully wrapped packages.

Mari'il was pleasantly surprised to find Tadael had invited her other friends as well as her team. Also seated around the blankets were Ariel and Raphael and Abdiel. Even Loriel and Phanuel had been able to come.

``Th... Thank you all,'' Mari'il said. ``You didn't have to do this.''

``Yes. We did,'' replied Tadael, and everyone else nodded enthusiastically in agreement. ``Congratulations! We're so happy for you. ...we're so glad to see you happy as well. You truly deserve it.''

``But... but...'' Mari'il stammered. ``All of you... why?''

``Because you're our friend,'' Ariel answered simply. ``We're all your friends, and this is what friends do.'' She smiled. ``We're doing this because we _want_ to, and because you really do deserve to be happy, for good things to happen to you.'' She gestured to the place of honor left open for Mari'il. ``But anyway, come join us: have a seat.''

Mari'il complied, floating over and taking the seat Ariel indicated. She blushed. ``Thank you again.''

A plate of food appeared in front of Mari'il, and soon the party was in full swing. Everyone was talking and eating and laughing together. In spite of her initial protests, Mari'il very much enjoyed the party. The picnic hearkened back to those Ekaril and her mother shared, and she was touched that they remembered and arranged one for her party.

Perhaps Neniel explained it best, expanding on Ariel's words. ``This is what friends are for: to share pain to make it less, and to share joy to make it more.''

Mari'il smiled and had to agree.

Now that Mari'il was there, the picnic got into full swing. Some of the dishes were special and they wanted to show Mari'il before cutting into them.

As the meal wound down and everyone was starting to fill up with the tasty fare, Ementaal got up and opened another box. She took out a cake and set it in front of Mari'il. Amid the carefully piped decorations covering it, she had written ``Congratulations Mari'il — Welcome Micchi'il''.

``Oh my,'' said a startled Mari'il. ``Thank you. This looks too beautiful to eat.''

``But we made it for you,'' Ementaal countered, ``and it is meant to be eaten.'' She held out a serving knife to Mari'il. ``Would you please cut it for us?''

Mari'il agreed and took the server, but simply held it, looking at the cake for a while. She finally, reluctantly made the first cut.

``Here, let me give you a hand.'' Raphael floated over with a stack of plates. She held out the first one for Mari'il.

Mari'il took the first slice, put it on that plate, and looked up at Ementaal. ``And you even made a spice-cake. How did you know it was my favorite?''

Ementaal smiled back and answered simply, ``From a friend.''

Everyone enjoyed the cake and several, including Mari'il, came back for another piece.

Mari'il finally set down her plate, took a sip of her tea, and let out a contented sigh. ``Thank you all. This was delicious ...and a lot of fun.''

Tadael got up and headed to the other table. ``We also got a few things for you, and Micchi'il when she arrives.''

``Oh, you shouldn't have...''

``Ah, ah, ah,'' countered Loriel. ``We already went over this topic.''

``But...'' Mari'il equivocated. She blushed again and acquiesced with a bow. ``Thank you.''

``Good,'' said Tadael with a smile. ``Here, this one is from Loriel.'' She handed Mari'il the first package.

Mari'il took the box, thanked Loriel and proceeded to open it. It was a wonderfully soft, pale blue, blanket. It would keep Micchi'il warm, or provide a nice surface to learn to crawl on.

By the time Mari'il had opened all of the presents, Micchi'il's early days were well supplied. Mari'il ran her eyes and hands over them all. She came to Loriel's blanket that she'd opened first, picked it up and hugged it tight to her chest as tears welled up in her eyes and began to run down her cheeks.

``Thank you. Thank you so much.'' She sniffed and continued smiling. ``I don't know what I've done to deserve such good friends like you, but I'm really, really, really glad to have your friendship ...and support. I'm glad Micchi'il will be able to grow up knowing wonderful people like you.''

.

Mari'il found the days of her pregnancy were filled with joy and expectation. She smiled and laughed as she prepared the nursery, and in fact her whole apartment, for Micchi'il. Her friends, especially Raphael and Ariel, quite enjoyed helping her, and when her pregnancy began to show, neighbors and even strangers would too. It seemed that everyone was aware of the problem of the dropping population, and because of that children had become very precious to all Arume.

As Mari'il grew larger, she grew more clumsy, though the gravity control from her nanomachines helped considerably. [[ _It must have been terribly inconvenient for women before gravity control like this,_ ]] she commented to herself. Often, she would just sit, Mari and Ekaril enjoying their togetherness as they felt Micchi'il grow and move.

ooo OOO ooo

Mari'il had the apartment open the door for Loriel when she arrived so she didn't have to get up. ``Please come in,'' she said.

``Thank you. I wanted to come by and wish you congratulations.'' Loriel entered, then dropped her voice quieter when she saw Mari'il. She was sitting in a comfortable chair and had just turned from the window, but more importantly, she tenderly held the sleeping baby Micchi'il in her arms.

Loriel pulled up a small chair and sat down watching Micchi'il. ``She's so precious,'' she whispered.

``Yes,'' agreed Mari'il, ``very.''

After another loving gaze at her daughter, she looked up at Loriel. ``And thank you for finding Ekaril's eggs so she really could be _our_ daughter.''

``You're welcome, replied Loriel, realizing exactly who Mari'il meant by ``our.'' In the time since Mari'il's return to Arume, she had come to know her, and see that her old friend Ekaril was truly made complete by this exceptional Mari she found on Forime. ``I'm also glad you two could have a daughter like her. And your happiness is worth more than any genetic diversity score we might find.''

She smiled as she realized that she fully meant this. In spite of all her years working to find genetic diversity and save their race, when finally faced with the facts, it was her friend's happiness that mattered more to her.

They continued talking in hushed tones about other happy topics until Micchi'il awakened and began to fuss. Knowing what she wanted, Mari'il opened her shirt and brought her to her breast, which she soon began to suckle.

Mari'il looked back up to Loriel, and a smile of deep contentment suffused her whole face. ``You know, I don't think I could have imagined this when I stood there that day on the pier, looking up at the fireball from _Blue_ and _Novaal._ In fact, I don't think I'd ever imagined being this happy.''

She paused, then continued with that slightly different timbre that Loriel recognized. ``Nor did I ever imagine an outcome this good, not even in my wildest dreams.'' [[ _Thank you, dearest. Thank you so much._ ]] ``And thank you for your help, Loriel.'' Her smile turned to one of memory. ``Maybe someday this little one can join us and share another dinner of bluefish.''

Loriel laughed, saying that she looked forward to that day.

.

After Loriel left, Mari'il once more looked down at Micchi'il asleep on her chest, soothed by the gentle lullaby of her mother's heartbeat. She bent over to plant a tender kiss on her head. ``Sleep safely, Micchi'il,'' she whispered, then silently wondered, [[ _Ekaril, my love, is it just me or since Micchi'il's birth have the deaths on Forime bothered you less?_ ]]

[[ _I think you're right. That grief seems to lie less heavily on me now. Maybe the hope that dear Micchi'il brings helps balance them out somehow. Or maybe it's just that I can't be unhappy around her. Either way, thank you, love._ ]]

[[ _I always wanted to help you with that. I guess it's fitting we actually did it together._ ]]

ooo OOO ooo

When Raphael stepped in bit later to check on them and bring them dinner, she found mother and child together, contentedly asleep on the chair, warmed by the rays of the setting sun. She set the meal down and took up the seat Loriel had used. Watching this tender scene, she decided dinner could wait.

.

Mari'il awoke from her nap to find Raphael seated across the room, happily waiting for her. ``I'm sorry, Raphael. I knew you were coming and didn't mean to fall asleep. Thank you for letting yourself in.''

``That's OK.'' Raphael smiled back. ``Sleep is as important for you as for little Micchi'il. Are you ready for dinner now?'' When Mari'il nodded, she continued, ``Then you just sit there, I'll take care of everything.''

``Thank you.'' Mari'il smiled down at her newborn who just woke up and was beginning to fidget and gave her another kiss. ``Yes, little one, we're awake now. We'll take care of that.'' Looking over to Raphael, she commented, ``We'll be back in just a minute,'' before floating off to the bathroom with Micchi'il.

She returned with a freshly changed Micchi'il to find Raphael had heated the dinner she brought and set the table for them. ``Is there anything else I can do?'' asked Raphael as Mari'il headed for her seat at the table.

``Yes,'' replied Mari'il. ``Could you hold Micchi'il for a little while I eat?''

``Of course,'' answered Raphael as her cheeks colored. ``Thank you for trusting me.''

Micchi'il didn't fuss at all when handed to Raphael. Perhaps the edges of Mari'il's telepathy touched on Micchi'il, letting her know just how loved and protected she was.

After marveling at the baby for a bit, Raphael looked up at Mari'il. ``I know why you named her Micchi'il, and I think that's a wonderful tribute to your friend, but looking at her, sometimes I think `Hope' and `Joy' would also fit.''

Mari'il smiled back. ``She's certainly brought me both of those.'' She reached over to stroke her daughter's cheek. ``And I hope Micchi would approve.''

``I'm sure she would.'' Raphael replied, her silver laugh filling the apartment. She looked back down at Micchi'il, blushing again. ``And this little one has brought hope and joy to more than just you.''

``That's all because I found such good friends here,'' replied Mari'il with a happy smile.


	16. Chapter 16: A Home

**Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 16**

**A Home**

* * *

Mari'il stood on the balcony of her apartment and looked out over the quiet city to the beach and beyond that the sea, dark and peaceful as dawn's first rays lit the wave-tops. [[ _Ekaril, dear,_ ]] began Mari. [[ _This really is a lovely world. I'm so glad we came here. I'm so glad we can enjoy this together._ ]]

[[ _Oh Mari._ ]] Her loving response brings a sense of warm contentment to them both. [[ _I remember that day back in the fields when we finally merged. I was terrified of hurting you, but I didn't want to lose you either. I also didn't know then if we'd be able to work this out._ ]]

[[ _I was so scared of losing you, of being left alone, that I didn't know what to do. I'm so glad we could end up together like this._ ]] The two remembered their early days together, how they learned to work together, sharing Mari's body, and how they came to know more and more of each other's thoughts and memories.

[[ _I'm also glad Abdiel showed us we never need fear being parted, not even like Zephrael's victims where one consciousness supplanted the other._ ]]

[[ _True, I don't think it's possible to separate us now._ ]]

[[ _You know, back on Forime they say in a truly good marriage, the two become one. I think we've done that a bit more than the saying implied._ ]]

[[ _True. I'm so glad we ``married.'' And look, we even have the family to go with it._ ]] Mari'il smiled, thinking over their two children. As they grew, they sometimes would tax her patience, but that was nothing compared to the joy they brought.

This dawn reverie was broken by the sounds of laughter and running little feet. She turned as the door behind her opened.

``Mama, Mama!'' cried her daughters as they ran up and hugged Mari'il who knelt down and wrapped her arms around them.

``Good morning, Micchi'il, Akanel,'' said Mari'il. ``Do you want to come out here and watch the sun finish rising with me?''

``Yes, mama,'' they both agreed. So Mari'il sat down on the balcony step. Her daughters sat down, one on each side of her, snuggling close under the protection of her loving arms as the three watched the sun turn the sea golden and then azure as it rose up in the sky.

A small tear of joy gathered in the corner of Mari'il's eye as she looked from the sea down to her daughters. [[ _They're so precious. Thank you for bringing hope to Arume in them._ ]] She then continued, quoting from Micchi's play, [[ _Jeanne, you have sown the seeds of hope in the world._ ]]

[[ _But it was you who saved me and brought the hope here._ ]] Mari'il's two voices had to agree that they both did, and that it didn't really matter who, as they were both together. [[ _And it's no longer just ``both'' of us who are together now,_ ]] she told herself hugging their children tighter.

With this family, with their love, with her friends, Mari'il finally felt content here on Arume. She belonged. She truly was home.

* * *

**Author's Note:**  
And so we come to an end of **Blue Drop: Angel's Home.** Mari and Ekaril have made something they find they've both missed and wanted for many years, a home and a life together.

I hope you've enjoyed their journey. I liked Hagino and Mari enough from the TV series to be unhappy at their sad, and separate, ending there. So, through **Angel's Partner** and **Angel's Home**, I hope to have successfully brought them from a beginning in loneliness and pain into a place where they can enjoy happiness and life together.

This story has focused on Mari'il herself and her settling into a happy life on Arume. I see several seeds of potential stories involving more of the world still here, but I think I need to let them rest in the quiet recesses of my mind to see if they will grow into a full fledged story. Meanwhile, I am working on a different tale, this one for **Sora no Woto,** which has caught my imagination.

Please drop me a review and let me know what you thought of this. Your words are why I do this. Hopefully they will give me the inspiration to continue with the next story.


End file.
